Building a Sustainable Writing Career: Priorities, Platforms, and Getting Paid

Before the arrival of the Internet, writers had few options for making a living that didn’t involve working with traditional publishing outlets or businesses. Today, there are many potential business models and sources of income that enable writers to build a sustainable career—whether they are an introvert, extrovert, or some combination thereof.   

If you want your writing to be a career-long activity and provide a living wage, then it’s necessary to consider the business model that will support you and how you will sustain and adapt it over time. By developing a diverse mix of writing opportunities, you can future-proof your career, create more of the opportunities you want, and decrease those you do solely for the money.  

In this full-day workshop, Jane Friedman—co-founder of The Hot Sheet, former publisher of Writer’s Digest, award-winning blogger and author of The Business of Being a Writer (University of Chicago Press, 2018)—will teach you how to be clear-eyed and strategic about developing revenue streams best suited to your personality, your writing, and your career expectations. We’ll discuss early career foundation and brand-building for freelancers who want to work for publishers or businesses, how and when freelancers can successfully market and sell their work directly to readers/consumers, and the varied income opportunities related to being a visible writer or expert in the market.  You’ll learn: 

• How and when early career freelancers might work for “exposure” versus cash  
• Principles and techniques for building a platform, with special attention paid to lead generation  
• Foundational strategies and principles for using your website, online writing (blogging), email and social media in concert with each other to develop opportunities for your career  
• How to optimize your branding and messaging in an online environment, and use the language of clients or consumers to help your efforts  

• The importance of relationships and community, and uncovering freelance opportunities through collaborations, partnerships, and influencers  
• Methods of patronage and reader support that can support less commercial writing efforts, including crowdfunding and grants  
• The critical difference between hourly work, scalable work, and passive income  
• The basics of selling services, such as editing, coaching, consulting, and online courses (and how to get started with something like freelance editing or non-university teaching)  
• How to more confidently talk about money and negotiate, and how to price your services—whether you do it on a fee-basis or hourly basis  

• How to crack the holy grail of digital subscriptions  
• What affiliate marketing is and how to start simply and ethically  
• The most popular, economical, and easy-to-use tools to support your freelance business  
• Resources to help you uncover more freelance opportunities and creative freelancer networks wherever you live  

Who this session is for 

• Established and aspiring authors who want to develop more freelance income or diversified income streams  
• Bloggers and other online writers  
• New and emerging freelance writers  
• Creative writing students who want to make a living through writing or freelancing 

Difficulty level: all_levels

Speaker(s)

• Jane Friedman

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