How To Break Into Writing Industry

Do you love to write? Writing has been your passion? Perhaps writing could be your break through career to be successful. People have been asking me “how to be a freelance writer?”.

So, I have decided to write a post on how you can be a freelance writer in Malaysia.

1. First of all, you have to understand that there are many types of writing. In the past, writing might be limited to writing books and journalism (for main stream newspaper). However, with blogs and websites emerging on the internet, we need web content writers, bloggers and article writers. Freelance writing is very different from writing books or journalism. Basically, you don’t need to have a degree to be a freelance writer.

2. To be a writer, you must have experience in writing. In order to build up a portfolio fast and easy, you can create your own blog and write for your own blog. This way, any prospective clients can refer to your blog for your writing sample. You can write about anything you want. It would be great if you can write different topics. Not sure how to blog? Learn more about blogging. Apart from that, having a resume is useful when you want to apply for any writing gigs.

3. You might be wondering where to get your first freelance writing gig. You can try to search local job sites such as AsiaPartTime but if you are interested in international writing gigs, you will have to try international freelance job sites such as Elance. There are many job sites you can refer to, but you will have to research on the sites to make sure they are credible to avoid any job scams.

4. How do you accept payment for your services? If you are doing freelance writing jobs for local clients, consider local bank transfer (internet banking). If you are accepting payments from international clients, consider using PayPal. PayPal is a popular international payment gateway. Learn more about PayPal.

5. To be a writer, you must be determined and persistent. For the first few months, you won’t be able to earn much but once you have established a name in the industry, you will be able to earn better income, perhaps even better than your previous job.

Recommended posts:

25 Reasons Why Blogging is a Real Career

10 Reasons Why You Should Start Blogging

Learn how you can set up a blog

Other posts you may want to read:

1. Jobs You Can Work At Home
2. When Starting a Home Business Not a Bad Idea
3. 5 Signs Your Freelance Business is Growing
4. 10 Reasons Why You Should Start Blogging
5. 25 Reasons Why Blogging is a Real Career
6. Business English
7. Freelance & Part Time Jobs at GobalaKrishnan.com
8. 5 Ways To Improve Your English

Author's bio: Sarah Lam is a freelance writer, a virtual assistant and a sole proprietor. She writes regularly at her blog Writing Consultation and contributes articles to a host of other websites. You can reach her at sarah[at]writingconsultation.com