How to Start Freelance Writing with No Experience in India

Last updated on 4 February 2020

Ah! I know I have piqued your interest. Right?

You want to start freelance writing because it’s a great way to earn a living from the comforts of your home. But, you lack the experience.

Even my friends ask me: How to start freelance writing with no experience? How to become a freelance writer in India?

So I thought to write this post to help all the beginners jumpstart their freelance writing business. Because there’s a lot of wrong advice out there. They outline the wrong steps for how to start freelance writing.

Freelance writing is a perfect business for those who want to make their career in content writing

OR

Those fed up of their 9-5 job

OR

Those looking to make some side income

OR

The stay-at-home Moms who have kids to look after.

The best part?

You can easily start freelance writing from scratch and it’s profitable too!

I just earned INR 25,500/- from single writing project recently. Isn’t that exciting?

So, without further ado, let’s learn the steps for how to start freelance writing with no experience. I’ll cover:

What is Freelance Writing?

Freelancing is basically working as an independent business owner. As a freelance writer, you are self-employed and write for many clients getting paid per assignment or a batch of assignments.

A freelance writer is called by many names such as –

• Freelance blogger – one who focuses on blogs mainly
• Content writer
• SEO writer
• Content strategist – who focuses on creative and management of content
• Freelance web content writer – focuses on writing web pages mainly
• Ghostwriter – you write articles/posts for the clients but not in your name.
• Professional writer

Types of Freelance Writing Services to Offer

When starting out as a freelance writer, you can offer one or a few of these freelance writing services –

• Blog writing – you’ll write regular content on the client’s blog and keep it updated.
• Editing – you can offer basic proofreading or a more in-depth editing of the client’s content.
• Copywriting – you can write engaging content for the website, press releases, and sales pages for a website.
• Social media marketing – apart from writing regular content, you can offer to handle the social media accounts of your client and keep them updated with regular posts.

Starting Freelance Writing–My Story

I started freelance writing three years back in August 2016.

I am a homoeopathic consultant by qualification, but was looking for a handsome way to earn some side income from home.

I am telling you this to let you know that ANYBODY from ANY educational background can start freelance writing by taking a few RIGHT steps.

However, I made the mistake of pitching my freelance writing services right away, doing no research.

I searched for the freelance writing jobs on Facebook groups. I didn’t know what was content writing or blogging, but jumped into the pool.

Jobs posted on a few Facebook groups are on the lookout for cheap content. Their goal is to get writers at the lowest prices of 10-20 PPW. Plus, many are a hoax.

After earning a meager INR 4000/- from my first writing job, I changed my path. These Facebook groups were not for me. I felt like giving up, but stood on. I learned the things I didn’t know and worked on my skills.

With perseverance, motivation, and hard work, I can now earn a full-time living with freelance writing jobs from home.

Okay, I hear you! You want to know the exact steps I took? The exact steps on how to start freelance writing and reach where I am today.

So, here they are!

9 Steps on How to Start Freelance Writing

Research the writing industry

When I re-started, I did a lot of research.

What is the freelance writing industry about? What do clients want from their freelance writers? What’s the pay rate? What are the skills required to be a successful freelance writer?

I even wrote this post on the content writing skills required to be a successful content writer.

I learned as much as I could about this business and still learning because content writing is an ever-changing field. What worked a year or a two ago might be irrelevant now!

To get started, here are some posts on my blog to know more about content writing:

• Benefits of freelance writing as a career
• 4 Myths about content writing to stop believing immediately
• 3 Scary secrets about the Indian content writing industry

You can also visit the website, Freelancer FAQs to learn more.

Find a mentor(s)

Search for the reputed freelance writers and bloggers; study their blogs and their writing styles to get a hang of freelance writing.

The task gets easier if you decide the ‘niche’ in which you’ll start freelance writing.

Niche refers to your area of specialisation plus your field, such as long-form-content, email sequences, white papers, and case studies. You can search for influencers in that niche.

Here’s how to pick your freelance writing niche!

You don’t have to copy the writing style of these writers, but it’ll make you learn the nooks and corners of online writing, which is far different from the way we wrote essays in school.

I chose blogs as my niche and admire ShailajaV. She has a simple writing style that engages the reader from the start to the end. She makes even complex subjects easy to understand.

Get familiar with the writing skills and tools

Now, I said that ANYONE can start freelance writing, even without experience. This is true, but if you want to earn big from this business, you must know the skills required for the job.

More importantly, you must also know if you possess these skills. Even if you don’t, you can learn and gain them side-by-side.

Having a simple assessment of your skills beforehand helps you decide the next step on how to start freelance writing.

Besides, you’ll need these tools as a freelance writer:

• Google Keep is a digital note-taking service by Google that helps you keep your to-do lists, client’s details, and other notes in one place. Now, won’t that keep your workspace and laptop organised?

• Canva is an image designing and editing tool that helps you design images for your blog or social media posts with no knowledge of graphic designing. I use this tool to design all the images of this blog. The advantage of learning image designing is that you can offer this as a part of your services to the client and expect a higher payout.

• Editing apps like Grammarly, ProWritingAid or Hemingway make it easier to edit your content before the final submission to the client. It ensures you submit an error-free work.

Don’t miss my post on 12 Free Tools for Content Writing

Take an online/offline course

As discussed in the previous point, you must analyse your skills before you even start writing as a freelancer.

Choose a course to improve on the skills you are poor at. For example, if you are weak in English, take an English writing course. If you fear speaking out your voice on paper or lack the communication skills, learn them.

This makes sure that when you pitch your services to the clients, you are not a neophyte. You have some basic knowledge about the freelancing business. And you can take the advanced training side-by-side.

Start your own blog

That’s the easiest way to practice writing. The more you write, the better you get at the craft. You need not be a perfect writer from the beginning. But that’s how you start and scale -up.

Plus, starting your own blog will help you market your freelance business. Decide the subject you want to write in and start a blog on it.

Some evergreen fields to start your blog are:

• Health and lifestyle
• Women’s health
• Fashion
• Food
• Travel

Here’s how to start your blog.

Create your work portfolio

If you aren’t comfortable starting your own blog yet, create a portfolio of your writing samples. Most clients you’ll pitch to would want to see your published work.

You can create writing samples by publishing a few posts on Medium or by guest posting.

There are certain blogs that allow other writers to post on their platform. Guest posting allows you to showcase the link of your published work to your prospects.

Google Search the guest posting blogs in your area of interest.

Improve your social media presence

You have set up your blog or the writing portfolio. But how will you let the clients or the businesses know you exist?

So you have to market your services and get your name out there. The best way to do this is social media, especially Twitter and LinkedIn.

Sign up for Twitter and LinkedIn account and start connecting with fellow writers and businesses you want to write for. Word your social media bio like a professional like ‘freelance writer’ or ‘content writer’.

If you have your own blog, promote it on social media channels to showcase your work.

Learn how to use Twitter as a freelance writer.

Start pitching to jobs

Now, it’s time to pitch your freelance writing services to the business. But where and how?

Problogger and Indeed are good places to start with. They enlist decent freelance writing jobs daily.

I avoid freelance marketplaces like Fiverr and Upwork because I actually never landed a gig from there. Plus, the bidding for projects really makes them unworthy to try.

However, keep these in mind when pitching your service to the client.

• Check the job boards regularly, before bed and when you wake up. This ensures you are the first few to apply for the job the moment they publish it.
• Make your pitch stand out. Show your credibility with blog post samples or the guest posts.

Download my list of top places to find online jobs for writing!

Continue learning

Freelance writing not only involves the ‘writing part’ but a marketing element too. It’s recommended to hone your writing, business, and pitching skills by being a continuous learner.

One course which I enrolled in and recommend for advanced training in freelance writing is the Digital Marketing Training Course by Decoracion Digital Marketing Services.

Read: Why I recommend Digital Marketing Training to every freelance writer?

Final Verdict on How to Start Freelance Writing

Starting freelance writing is not rocket science and you can tell this by now. You ONLY have to take a few preliminary steps in the right direction.

• Research the writing industry to know what works and what doesn’t.
• Find the right mentor to motivate and help you understand the itsy-bitsy of freelance writing.
• Get to know the skills and tools you’ll need to be a successful freelance writer.
• Start your own blog or create a writing portfolio to practice writing and showcase the samples to your prospects.
• Pitch your freelance writing services to the clients. Use social media to build new connections with fellow writers and businesses.
• Continue to learn and upscale your writing, marketing, and business skills in freelance writing.

Now, over to you! Are you interested in starting freelance writing?

If you find these tips useful, share it with your friends who want to become a freelance writer and get paid.

Have questions? They are welcome in the comments below!

FAQs about Freelance Writing

• How do I become a content writer? What training should I receive?
• Can you make money freelance writing?
• How can I become a content writer?
• How do I get started as a freelance writer?