24 Crucial Freelance writing terms you should know

Ah! You have been searching for freelance writing on Google.

This career field has piqued your interest and now you want to know more. Right?

That’s natural. When you first hear about freelance writing, you want to absorb as much as you can about freelance writing terms.

But let me tell you! It’s a real struggle to learn the ins and outs of what freelance writing really is.

And I don’t want that struggle for you!

So, today, I will brush you up on all the common freelance writing terms so that you can devote more time in writing a pitch or finding a freelance writing job.

This post will be your go-to source for all the freelance writing terms so that you can get started right away.

Now, let’s dive in!

The 24 Freelance Writing Terms you should Know

Byline

A byline is your attribution on your piece of content.

Also known as the author bio, you can have it at the end of your blog posts, guest posts, and client articles.

In your author bio, make sure to state who you are and whom you help. This makes it easy for the potential clients to know what type of writing you do.

Clips

Clips are another freelance writing term for your writing samples, ones which you show to your prospective clients.

You must ensure that your clips should have your best writing pieces, be it your guest post, a post on Medium, a LinkedIn post or your blog post.

Deadlines

Deadline is the time limit for your work to be done. Either you can set them for yourself or the client will do it for you.  You can also set an internal deadline for yourself so that the work given by your client is done earlier than expected.

Editing

I think that’s a very self explanatory freelance writing term. Editing should be done for every piece of writing for any grammar mistakes, typing errors, etc. It is done to ensure your writing is error free.

Also Read: An Ultimate Guide of Content Editing Tips to Make your Content Error-free

Ghostwriting

Ghostwriting means in which no credit is given to the writer for their writing.

It is the opposite of byline.

The credit goes to the client or the company/business that hired you.

Read: Ghostwriting Meaning and Myths about it

Invoicing

In freelance writing terms, Invoicing is to keep a note of each of your writing projects and send invoices to your client.

There will be some clients who will give you instructions on how to invoice them, but it’s generally up to you.

You can draft your invoice using MS Word or using tools like Zoho.

Job Boards

One of the easiest ways to find freelance writing jobs are job boards which list out the best freelance writing jobs currently.

Click here to know the top 27 places to find freelance writing jobs

Kill fee

When your article is not published by the publication, you can be paid a nominal fee for the work you have done. This can be 20% (sometimes 50%) of what you would’ve been paid if they published your piece.

Market yourself

To get yourself in front of your prospective clients, you need to market your freelance writing business.

That’s the way to attract clients and get some freelance writing gigs.

Some easy ways to start are:

• Guest posting – Publish a blog post on another blog in your niche
• Blog commenting – Strategically comment on blogs that you want to write for
• Sharing content – Connect with brands and businesses on social media.
• Networking – Connect with brands and network with your contacts for more gigs

Niche

To really make it big as a freelance writer, you need to exclusively write on one topic.

This is called your writing niche. However, not all niches are created equal.

Some aren’t that profitable but can be a way to break into bigger high paying niches.

It’s okay as a new freelance writer to start without a niche and pick up one later. It will help you break into freelance writing quicker and figure out which topic you enjoy writing about the most.

Also Read: How to Pick the Perfect Freelance Writing Niche for yourself

Offerings

What do you offer as a freelance writer?

List down the services you will offer to your ideal client.

These can be:

• Ghostwriting
• Editing
• SEO writing
• Copywriting

Pitch

If you are seeking freelance writing jobs, then you need to have a writing pitch that converts. It’s a pitch optimized to land a gig.

In your writing pitches, share who you are and what your service is, and demonstrate how you can help that potential client.

Keep your writing pitch short and to the point since many marketers get pitched all the time.

Also, don’t make your pitch too general or business owners may just throw it in the bin.

Quality

To make your freelance writing popular, your writing needs to be high quality which grabs the interest of your client or reader.

And you know what?

Clients can make out the quality from your writing.

Quality writing is conversational with storytelling features and copywriting principles.

Research

Freelance writing needs more and more research to make the content interesting and attractive. Client or reader should find your content new every time they read.

You also have to find credible sources to find information for your writing piece.

These are the sources that are industry-specific and are widely known.

Use Google Search or Google Scholar to find official documents like government sources or medical journal pieces.

See this Pro tip to do your content research!

Style Guide

In freelance writing terms, style guide is a standard that client may set for the content.

Some of your clients will give you a style guide to help you with your article. This style guide can have formatting tips, writing style and voice instructions.

Testimonials

This means when someone praises your work in a positive manner and share their experience that how happy they are working with you. This is important in freelance writing to achieve more work.

A testimonial act as a social proof and can help prospects take the plunge and hire you (because they see others are satisfied with your writing).

Display your testimonials on your writer website like below. This can immediately show you are a professional writer and not a hobby writer.

USP

USP is Unique Selling Point. There are many freelance writers writing under the same niche.

It depends on you how will you stand out. You have to find something unique about your writing.

You stand out with your USP. Think about personality qualities and skills that you can point out to help you find your USP.

Up-front Payments

Up-front payment is the payment received before the work. In freelance writing, it is important to charge up-front payment when working with a private client or signing a contract before starting the work.

Voice

Voice in freelance writing terms means the way of writing. Some publications have an informal voice while others have an academic one.

White space

This is the blank space between the elements like photos or between the text lines etc. Use white space wisely to make your content presentable and easy on the eyes of the reader.

Payment on acceptance

This means that publication will pay you ONLY when they decide to publish your article, otherwise not.

Reprints

Reprint is the piece of writing you have written for a publication republished elsewhere. Some publications also pay for reprints.

Lead times

Lead time means the time from publication accepting your piece of writing to the time of its publishing.

Fact check

A freelance writer should check the facts which he/she is providing to the reader. Facts should not give any false information.

Conclusion

There you go!

These were the 24 basic and crucial freelance writing terms you should know.

There is a lot to learn in freelance writing, but take it one-day-at-a-time.

Over to you-share any freelance writing terms I didn’t mention in the list. I would love to read them.