How to become a freelance author without a degree
Do you have unique knowledge? Are you a specialist in your field? Do you have valuable information that is not available to a wide audience? And did you know that you can make money on your knowledge, while earning the laurels of a newspaper writer? Learn how to make money on your own qualifications as a member of the media in our story.
Network expert
New resources appear on the Web every day. These are thematic information sites, network representations of various companies, mass media, including electronic newspapers and magazines. Besides, the topics of network portals are very diverse: from building country houses to organizing role-playing games, recreating grandiose historical battles. And every portal, regardless of its specialization, the owners need to fill the text material, preferably exclusive, that is not oriented to copying information, and to create your own unique content.
Therefore, to fill sites and network media author’s texts to the work involve specialists from various fields, ready to share information relevant to a particular site. That is, the owners of network resources attract specialists from various fields, regardless of their education, to write texts as author-experts. The main thing – that the author could share valuable information that fits into the subject of the portal, and set forth his thoughts more or less competently.
As a result, among the network workers there are many freelance writers who cooperate with information portals or online newspapers, writing for a fee, and rightfully calling themselves reporters, although all his previous life he worked in areas far from the media. This is neither copywriting nor classical journalism; it is something in between – an ideal variant of work for the author who has narrow disciplinary knowledge. And everyone has such knowledge: one knows how to fix plumbing, another knows how to make stone stoves and the third knows how to cook kharcho.
And if the Network will develop in the future, the need for specialists of all kinds – from a tiler to a cartoonist – the need for specialists who can act as freelance author-experts will only grow. And so it makes sense to think about what kind of knowledge and which portals you can sell.
Article Writer
“I never thought that my career would take such a sharp turn and I would have to act in a role that was completely unexpected for me – a journalist. – Tells carpenter, an expert in the field of country building, now retired Victor Ryabinin. – However, in his sixty years I began to cooperate with the construction magazine. It came out by pure chance.
I myself, as a practicing carpenter, subscribed to a magazine about cottage building. And here in the materials of one author from article to article repeated the same mistakes – he spoke about what kind of wood is better to withstand moisture. And then I decided to call the editorial board and make a comment. I contacted the editor, who was in Moscow. I explained the point of the question, told about myself, that I was a carpenter and who better to know about wood than me… I was thanked and quite unexpectedly offered to be a technical editor, that is – to review materials about construction before their publication in order to find such blunders. For a small fee. I refused – the responsibility was great. But I left my phone number.
And a few days later the editor called me and offered to write articles for the magazine about the construction of baths. Say, write as you can, and the literary editor will correct everything, as long as everything is technically correct. I agreed and gave it a try.
I worked on the first material for a long time. And then I realized that people just like me would read my articles, so I could do without any literary extravagances. That’s how I started working with the magazine. And then my grandson suggested I expand my professional contacts – and today I work as a freelance writer for two more sites devoted to construction.
Working conditions
Freelance author-expert must not only be an expert in the area about which he writes, but also be able to articulate his thoughts clearly, because not all editors have a literary editor on staff. The author must be punctual, obligatory and deliver materials in a strictly scheduled time. It is also necessary to have constant access to the network to communicate with the employer, which geographically may be located in another city. For the same reason, it is necessary to have an e-wallet and learn how to withdraw money.
You can search for job offers on your own, contacting the owners of the sites or directly in the editorial office. Another option is to browse job sites in the “Remote work” section.
