Any freelance writers or editors out there?

[Anonymous]

How did you get started as a freelancer?
I'm interested in doing some occasional work to supplement our income. I have ten years of related experience but all written products are proprietary and I can't use them as writing samples. So, I'm curious - how did you build your portfolio and how did you build your client-base!

[Anonymous]

The few freelance writers I know who started from scratch first started blogs. They used the blogs to show they had established content, and when their blogs went "live" they had been quietly publishing for 6 months to a year so that they already had content built up. It was successful for the two women I know, in that they have been able to get hired for projects and fill a part-time schedule with them.

[Anonymous]

Do you have any contacts you can pitch to? I don't do much freelance any more, but I used to write some for the Post and for a few websites. The Post gig I got by pitching them an article that I had mostly already written. Then as I established a relationship with the editor I got more frequent assignments. One website I've written for I got hooked into because the director of the site is a former colleague of mine. So basically my advice is write on spec and use your contacts. Also, don't expect to get paid much. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Thanks to both of you for the helpful responses! Honestly, I'm just looking to add a couple of hundred dollars here and there as "fun" money, not to mention a diversion from my otherwise tedious day job. I haven't the faintest idea how much to expect to make but I figured it would be nothing to start and minimal after that.

[Anonymous]

What kind of writing do you have experience doing? If you want to get into journalism you need to develop clips. A blog could help with that, or writing for very local venues (for free). If you want to do freelance copywriting or communications writing (which is what I do), you have to develop a portfolio of that kind of work. I have gotten most of my work through personal contacts and networking. It's not easy to get work and there is tremendous competition - pay is very low and getting lower as the market gets flooded with unemployed journalists. I would build on your contacts and the kind of writing you have done for work as that is likely to be your most marketable angle.

[Anonymous]

All my freelance editorial work has come from contacts.

[Anonymous]

My husband freelanced for many years but got the work from contacts he had in his field when he originally worked full time. (He writes in a certain technical field.) Since our children were born he went full time again.