A Freelance Writer Rants

At this late an hour, I am online trying to live a second life as a freelance writer. I think I've always been a freelancer even before graduating from UP almost 10 years with a degree in Journalism. Yes, I am a Journ grad but except for a brief 6 months in a computer publication, I really didn't become a journalist full-time. Instead, I turned to advertising which in turn led me into marketing.

However, writing has always been an important function that I offer to the companies I've worked for. And on the side, I do freelance work to augment my meager income as a marketing fella. Some companies frown on freelance writers like me who hold day-jobs. I know my previous employer didn't like his employs moonlighting because he says it distracts employees from concentrating on their main jobs. But my philosophy in freelance writing is basically I do freelance work on my own time. I make sure that if I give a 100% on my freelance work, I give double the effort on the my main job. I work on my freelance gig during weekends, days-off and like now, at night after office hours.

In the earlier days of my professional life I had the chance to work with the likes of The Manila Times, the Philippine Marketing Association, and RCBC -- doing PR articles, supplements, corpcomm stuff and newsletters. Despite being sucked into the corporate shish a year later, I still managed to work on a few freelance gigs, all of them via referral.

But freelance writing has also its downsides.

As the years progressed, I got less and lesser writing projects because of cost-cutting by clients I previously freelanced for, and the rise of competition. Even though writing has never been a 100% guaranteed financially-rewarding career path, many writers continue to emerge and the fight for the few writing projects doled out by companies became cut-throat.

When I resigned from my first job way back in 1998, I expected freelance writing to see me through the dark times. Unfortunately, it didn't and I was a bum for about 6 months -- mainly relying on my parents for sustenance. My old clients didn't require my services because of cost-cutting measures. Until now, when I hear the word "cost-cutting" it still unsettles me because I am reminded of that bleak period when I was absolutely worthless.

Since that period I've more or less determined that freelance writing could not be my main source of income (unless of course, I win around Php 50 million in the lotto) but just a sideline to help with the usual upkeep.

The best freelance gig I've held was for Global Sources who paid handsomely for the work I did. Unfortunately, personnel changes in that company ended my stint as a freelancer with them as I lost my contacts and the new ones who replaced them had their own stable of writers.

Nowadays, the freelance writing I do is sourced from the internet. And it's slavery for God's sake. Imagine, I earn roughly Php 150 for a 500-word article. Several years back, that would've yielded at least Php 1,000. Before this entry I was rewriting an article for such a freelance website I'm now working with. Sheesh, when I checked my account, I just had about Php 1,500 earned from 9 articles. And guess what, they only pay when you submit and they accept 100 articles. I just submitted my revised article and if it gets approved tomorrow that's 10. Just 90 more articles and I'll finally earn my first Php 15,000 (which I hope they will indeed send, the company is in Italy).

I've also scoured the net for freelance writing gigs here in the PI but most are similarly structured with what I'm doing now. The really best way to earn substantially from freelance writing is from referrals.

Heck, I've redeveloped my skills just to be able to cope. I now offer not just writing but also design and layout, plus anyone can also hire me part-time as a marketer for both the traditional and online field. In fact, the last two freelance I did and the one that I'm now doing (and has been in the freezer since November) are design projects. No writing involved! Now that's odd.

Nothing. Just a rant here from a freelance writer. Drop me a line if you need someone with the skill.