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Proud to say I'm officially closed for commissions for January!! I've accepted work for around $3000 this month, which is more than what I need to make as I've been living with my parents, ever since I actively started freelancing mid 2020. Here's how I did it, a thread:
Some have been from pitches, but some were assigned by editors for whom I've written 1-2 stories. It is always flattering when editors reach out to assign stories and I don't have to pitch. BUT that only happened because my mentor @Saptarshi_Ray drilled into me the importance of
CLEAN COPY from his 20 years in journalism. I edit my draft at least 2 times before filing. Sometimes when I'm too sick of looking at it, I swap it with a fellow freelancer and we give comments/correct typos etc.
I have been burnt before in my early days of filling unclean copy.
I have been burnt before in my early days of filling unclean copy.
I ALWAYS ask for a brief when an editor commissions me. It's okay if they don't reply to it, sometimes they just want the writer to have a go at it. But sometimes I've filed and it isn't what the editor expected. It's better to ask for a brief, than the story requiring huge edits
I also ask for clips of similar stories they've run for their publication for tone & style. It is because of this, a lot of my editors have gone ahead and published the stories with little to no edits. That saves us both time and you seem professional and someone they can rely on
I'm also aware many seasoned freelancers will not find this helpful as clean copy is obvious. But it wasn't obvious to me when I was starting out. I had editors tell me my copy was shit and required huge edits. They never commissioned me again or replied to my emails after that.
Also doing a panel on this next month where I will be talking about how I get work as a freelance journalist. https://twitter.com/meehikabarua/status/1352231402197057538?s=19
