A Brief Introduction To Freelance Technical Writing Rates

Where to find your first job and how this can affect the pay rates

When becoming a freelance technical writer, you need to first consider how to find your first job. There are many avenues available to beginners, including content mills, classified ads and sourcing clients privately.

Many freelancers will attempt to find work via content mills. The benefits of this include a wide variety of jobs to choose from, and the ease with which it is to find potential clients. However, many content mills are used by clients offering relatively low levels of pay. Although it is possible to find high-paying clients, this requires some patience.

The main alternative that most new writers consider is to source clients privately. Whilst this requires considerably more work in order to find clients, the rates of pay can often be considerably better.

Useful tips for helping you to win your first job

In order to help win your first job, a good idea is to put together a portfolio of any written work that you have done, whether you have been paid for it or not. This enables you to provide relevant samples to potential clients, and demonstrate your expertise as a writer.

When it comes to submitting job proposals, it is important to consider what the requirements of the job are, and how you can address the needs of the client. Rather than simply listing any relevant qualifications or achievements that you have made in the past, you should focus on how you will do the work, and what benefits this will provide for the client.

Things that you can do to help maximise your rates

As time goes by, you may wish to increase the rates that you charge for any work. One of the easiest ways of doing this is to simply ask any regular clients that you work for whether they will pay you extra. Whilst you may get turned down, many clients will simply accept your request with very little fuss, so it is or is worth asking.

In order to have the best chance of being able to raise your rates, it is important that you always carry out work to a high standard, and maintain good levels of communications with any clients that you work for.

It can also be a good idea to apply for jobs that may feel outside of your comforts own, but that can potentially pay more than you are used to.