There was a time when choosing to be a writer as a profession was frowned upon. It’s not a profitable profession, they say. People assume that since writing is part of the arts, most artists struggle to make a living. But fret not, because if you’re an aspiring writer, this is the time to put your engines in high gear. Being a writer makes more than the minimum wage and is as profitable as other professions. There is no time than the present to make money off your literary work and live the life that you always dreamed of!
You may ask: How do I jumpstart a writing career? The process is simple. You just have to know what you want in terms of writing. Is it for movies, TV, magazine, or general content? Of course, you’d need to do your part of grinding your gears and hustling, because it’s a competitive industry out there.
In this article, we’ve collated four surefire ways to guide you through starting a writing career. While we recommend that you already have a portfolio of your written work intact and ready to go, it’s also prudent to write new ones that are specifically targeted to your intended niche. Here are the major things you need to work on,
Have a varied writing portfolio
This is pretty much a given if you want to start your writing career. A winning writer’s portfolio, that is. This is a collection of your literary work. You can include poems, articles you’ve written, short stories, novels, manuscripts, and more! Every single top-notch product that you’ve made since you’ve started writing, put it in there. However, be sure to curate them well as to not overwhelm people who are going to view your portfolio.
Also remember that in collecting your best work, make it varied. Cover as many genres as you can. Also, make sure you don’t fill your portfolio with just one type of work even if that’s your specialty. Two or three of each should do the trick. Two poems, one manuscript, three articles, and two short stories, plus a novel if you’ve ever written one is a formidable way to start.
It’s also important that when you present your best works, have a front page of some sort that summarizes the work itself. Think of it as a preview. It could contain the synopsis, the number of chapters, word count, character count, and more. Most modern word processing tools have character counter with spaces nowadays so you won’t have to worry on that front. You can also download free tools that do just that. Either way, present your content in a bite-size form so that portfolio readers can easily have a quick idea of the content inside.
Start a blog
While this advice has been said so many times before, starting a blog is as classic as any good advice out there. Starting a blog takes your writing to the next level, plus it makes your content more personal. It also consolidates all of your work in a way that’s presentational and convenient. Just a link to your blog could take the place of an entire portfolio – provided that you have lots of content in there!
You don’t need anything technical or expensive to start a blog. There are dedicated sites you can go to that happily takes bloggers and gives them the platform to write. Wix.com, WordPress.com, and Squarespace.com are top favorites. If you want to build your site from the ground up, you can do that as well!
Go out there
To be seen, you need to make yourself available. You need to connect with like-minded individuals. Ask them how they got started in their fields of writing and always be on the look-out for an opportunity. Always remember that no matter how good you are at writing a genre, if you don’t have the right people to back you up, then it’s not likely that you’d be published, or that your manuscript will see the light of the day. That means you should look for opportunities beyond your normal scope. For example, if you’re a content writer that wants to send manuscripts for TV shows, you need to network first.
This includes catching up with people you meet at networking events. You need to take the initiative to call or send messages to people, and having a solid phone carrier like google fi will benefit you greatly. Some people don’t know what is google fi , it is a phone carrier operated by Google which gives you data service on three mobile networks (T-Mobile, Sprint and U.S. Cellular), the handy thing about their services is that your phone will intelligently switch between whatever is faster. It can also use Wi-Fi to make calls and send texts whenever available.
Constantly improve your writing
This is very important. Never be content with your work and look for ways to grow as a writer. Being stagnant in this industry could be dangerous for your career. A particular work may be done but the work you do with yourself, your writing, your style, your voice will never be.
Start your writing profession
Being a writer these days is as much as a profession as being a dentist, lawyer, or even an office clerk. While the industry is much harder to break, more and more opportunities are coming to writers, especially in content creation. Thanks to the shift of information on the Internet and the proliferation of Wix seo, as well as major content streaming services, writers are in-demand more than ever.
