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Can Anyone Become a Professional Writer?

Posted by admin | Posted in General | Posted on 24-06-2008

There are two common things you may here about being a writer, from those outside of the writing profession:

It’s easy being a writer, and anyone can do it.
It’s extremely difficult to be a writer (or at least to make money as one).

The truth is that both of these things are complete myths. Here’s the reality:

Yes, many people attempt to become professional writers, and some are highly successful. They can make it look it “easy.” At the same time, you have to understand that the majority of “wannabe” writers do not “make it.” If you look specifically at freelance writers, the truth is that most who give it an honest go will fail within their first few years.

It’s starting to sound like #2 above wasn’t a myth after all, right? Well hold on.

It’s true that being a successful professional writer can be very hard work. It takes dedication, and much more than simple writing abilities - you have to be able to market yourself and build a reputation or image around your own name.

At the same time, there are many successful writers out there - whether they be published authors, journalists for major magazines and newspapers, or even Web content writers or ghostwriters who you may not ever know.

All of these writers started from the same place - they all worked to build a writing career for themselves. It takes work, but it can be done!

You need to look at your own situation honestly.

You may want to be a writer, because you figure you can work from home, set your own hours, and have more time off. The reality is that freelancers often have less time off, and work far more than 40 hours per week (especially early on).

Maybe you think you’re an excellent writer, but you simply aren’t. Remember, friends, family, and others who care about you aren’t unbiased sources. You may not be as good as you think you are, or perhaps you just haven’t found the best type of writing for you to pursue yet.

As much as it sounds great to be a writer, many new or aspiring writers have no idea what’s involved beyond the writing itself. This is why many fail. It takes marketing skill (whether trying to write great queries to publications, trying to sell freelance writing services to clients, or trying to pitch a book to publishers). If you don’t have that, be prepared to spend a lot of money for someone to do it for you, or you likely won’t make it. At the same time, writing is a business. Unless you’re working as a writer full-time as an employee of some publication or other company, you’ll have to deal with administrative tasks like filing and bookkeeping. Again, not all writers really want to be bothered with such things, so they either neglect them or start to hate their work when they realize how much time as a writer is spent not writing.

So no - “anyone” cannot become a professional writer. It takes someone with basic writing abilities, marketing skills, an often an entrepreneurial attitude to manage all the elements of a successful writing career. Do you have what it takes? That’s really up to you.

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Jennifer Mattern is a full-time freelance business writer and Web content writer. She runs the All Freelance Writing blog, and is the author of several e-books including the Web Writer’s Guide on launching a successful freelance Web writing career.

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