Freelance writing is not exactly the “easy way to earn tons of money” that some con men want you to believe.

It is a profession, and like all professions, it takes skill, and practice, and knowledge. Not everyone can do it, at least not without some forethought, and learning.

There are basic skills needed to write well, and the spelling and grammar that you learned in grade school are not going to cut it. Most of the writers that I know, (that know what they are doing) have taken advanced English, Creative writing, Marketing, and Editing courses, at least. And those are just the writers who don’t have a journalism degree.

There are also the trends to consider, what is hot in the market, so to speak. Each new trend requires new skills. In addition, each type of writing also requires specific skills.

For example;

Magazine – Journalism and reporting skills for whatever type of genre (trade, parenting, automotive, etc.)

Legal – If you are telling people that you can write their legal documents, then you should at least have some knowledge of the law, aside from knowing how to call for bail. Legal documents are tricky, and if written with errors in terminology and standards, then you could get into, and cause a lot of trouble…

Web site pages and content – Have you ever clicked a link to a site, and thought that it was just not professional? Because you just happened to catch mistakes in spelling and wrong words, which just jumped out at you? Those kinds of sites are pretty common, and most people don’t even notice most of the mistakes, because they don’t have the knowledge that a professional writer has learned. Spell check doesn’t catch ever error, only a properly trained human eye can do that.

There are salespersons, who advertise, “Earn thousands of dollars just by writing a simple letter!” Then they tell you that you only need to purchase their “Amazing Ebook” or program, for a mere $99.00.

What they neglect to mention, is that there are free places that you could how to write an excellent letter, and that there is a lot more to the process than just stringing a few descriptive phrases together.

Once you do know how to write a successful sales letter, then you can take your skills to the net, and earn not thousands of dollars per letter, but at least a few. I average between $30 - $150 per sales page, depending on style, length, and content, (graphics and images).

And there are writers, who will do the work for less than I do, and there are writers who charge much more than I do, and get it. I have listed some places below, where you can BEGIN to learn (for free) the skills needed to become a freelance writer.

www.freelancewriting.com
www.worldwidefreelance.com
www.inspiredauthor.com/v3/freelance-writing