Freelance Writing Jobs In India 2023: How to Find Gigs
Do you enjoy writing? This is the first and foremost question that you should ask yourself before you choose professional writing and embark upon how to find freelance writing jobs in India.
A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.
Richard Bach
Writing involves a beautiful relationship between the thought process and articulating those thoughts into words. After all, a writer is someone who produces words to bring readers closer to his works. The pen is mightier than the sword and never before has this been more relevant than in today’s world.
The world has become a global village and the internet has been greatly instrumental in bringing all parts of the world together. Every kind of activity under the sun has its presence globally, thanks to the internet. Every website be it for selling goods or services, offering entertainment or education, is accessible globally. And thus, what it has created in the process is an ever-increasing demand for good content and thereby good writers.
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Platforms such as Quora have brought about a tremendous scope for aspiring writers to create their own communities of fans and have a following of their own. However, technology and the internet can only create opportunities, it is up to the writer to bring magic through his writings. The 3 D’s: Drive, Discipline, and Desire aptly mentioned by author Nora Roberts are essential to take things forward.
[As a writer] you have to have the three D’s: drive, discipline and desire. If you’re missing any one of those three, you can have all the talent in the world, but it’s going to be really hard to get anything done.
Nora Roberts
There are different kinds of writers. Writers as we have known traditionally writing books, novels, academic textbooks, and so on. While on the other hand, there are writers who are busy building websites, creating social media content for business houses, writing for blogs, articles, posts, contributing to apps, online games, and so much more. All of the above-mentioned writing genres are great choices for a writing career and if you have answered a ‘YES’ to the first question, ‘Do you enjoy writing?’ then read further!
How To Be A Good Writer?
Before we move to how to find freelance writing jobs in India, a few pointers that are essential to becoming a good professional writer are:
Brush up on grammar, spellings, and basic writing techniques:
This is the first requirement to start writing. To be well versed in grammar and spellings in whichever language you are planning to write is very crucial. A good tool to use along with your own grammar skills is Grammarly. This can be added as a Chrome extension to help you with suggestions related to grammar and spelling.
Think difficult to write simple
Connect with your audience by writing simply. No matter how difficult the thoughts, emotions, subject matter that you are conveying is; make it a point to simplify your expressions to aid the reader’s easy understanding.
Indulge in Reading
Reading is like living life twice, once our own life and once the life portrayed by the author. The more we read, the more we gain thorough knowledge, experiences, and writing styles. What it essentially does is enrich you with vast amounts of knowledge which comes in handy when dealing with writing projects.
Write to flow better
To be a writer, you ought to write. Our writing skills develop powerfully every time we choose to write to pen down our thoughts and ideas. Another important aspect to become a successful writer is to strike a beauty in your writing style even when the subject matter is very dry or formal. What engages a reader to your writing is the simple flow of ideas, presented almost like poetry even within the prose.
Do your research
Back up your writing process with good research. This is vital because as we write, we also need to ensure that our writing is relevant to the current trends and does not have any content that is outdated and hence no longer useful for your reader.
Authenticity works
Originality counts like nothing else. Make your writing 100% authentic. Be cautious about any plagiarism in your writing. Also, acknowledge the right sources as a reference when you do so. A good check here would be to use tools like SmallSeoTools plagiarism checker or Duplichecker to ensure the content written does not have any shades of duplicity.
Be a ruthless editor or find someone
Every writing, be it an article or a two-liner social media content needs editing. As you write, let the ideas flow but revisit it at a later point to edit the writing to polish it further. Even better is having someone else edit or review the writing as this brings a fresh perspective to the whole exercise.
Find your writing corner
While freelancing gives you the ability to virtually work from anywhere, it is important to find your own writing corner. To put it simply, it is your own workspace within your home or wherever you are planning to work from that is free of distractions and allows you to concentrate to write to the best of your ability. Writing involves diving deep into your thought process and is best done in a quiet environment where you will not be disturbed.
Perks Of A Freelancer!
While every job can have a fixed structure, such as in terms of the office environment, work timings, and job responsibilities; freelancing jobs offer greater choice in all such aspects. Writing especially is one such area where freelancing is very popular with an ever-increasing client base as well as professionals who write their way to earn a livelihood.
Freelancing is a wonderful opportunity not only for those who are searching for a job but also for those who already have a job in hand but wish to increase their income from a secondary avenue.
The reasons could be many, but to sum it up, it could be to:
- Cover up financial expenses.
- Generate a work opportunity to rely upon in case the first one hits a roadblock.
- Simply a genuine passion for writing.
With no bosses to boss around or nitpick about your working methods and achievements, you can channel your own path to success by freelancing. There are several perks in freelancing writing jobs, some of the noteworthy ones are:
The flexibility of workspace and work timings
Ability to work from anywhere (in other words, work from home) and anytime as per your convenience. As long as you are meeting the client deadlines for assignment submissions, you are free to choose your own working hours. You could be working full time on your fixed-job and writing away in your off hours to complete the projects. Utilizing time smartly to increase your writing speed could free up your day for tackling other responsibilities.
Take charge of your workload
Freelancing also gives you control over your own workload and helps you to distribute the work weight over the available days at hand. Moreover, with practice and experience, writing becomes easier and the flow of ideas comes quicker. This in turn helps you to tackle multiple assignments together to generate more income.
High Qualification? Not required
This is another perk about freelancing writing jobs. Most important is a good hold over language and the ability to articulate your thoughts through words. Decent language skills and basic writing skills are all that are required to start working in this field. This is also a good option for students still pursuing their degrees. Or anyone for that matter who may not have high academic or professional qualifications. Freelancing is also good for those who need to stay at home for personal commitments or have retired from their working life.
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Types of Writing Jobs for Freelancers
- Technical Writing: There is always a great demand for Technical writers who are well versed in the latest technology, scientific, and medical advancements. The IT industry also has a good demand for technical writers who can explain the technical releases in an easy-to-understand language for their customers and users.
- Web content Writing: This category fits in all types of writing jobs that particularly cater to the internet. It could be article writing for websites, writing blogs, creation of content around a product for its marketing and sales, and so on. There is a lot of scope for creativity in these assignments.
- Ghost Writing: This type of writing in particular is to write for someone else without using any credits for the writer himself. This is quite a common practice for websites to hire ghostwriters to contribute to their own articles and blogs. While this offers payments for the writing assignment, you do not get to showcase these as your own writings. However, if you are interested in earning through your writing, ghostwriting too is a good option.
How do you get started on the freelancing journey?
Good writing skills are a must but along with it comes several other aspects that determine how successful you can be as a freelancer. Explore the below-listed pointers to gain a better understanding of what freelancing as a profession really entails:
Find your niche
Everyone has an area of interest or expertise. It could also be something that you are passionate about. Find yours. This is the first step towards knowing your strengths and points. If you are interested in technology then that’s your specialized area of expertise, likewise, if it is financed then that’s what works for you. Your niche not only helps you to choose your writing assignments, but it also helps you perform your best in it.
Be open to different types of writing
While having a niche is important, you should also remain open to different types of writing. Freelancing may often require you to stretch your boundaries to fit in various types of subjects as per the client’s requirements. Therefore, the more you practice writing different genres, the more you improve upon your writing skills. Having a broader and diverse subject range helps to build a stronger brand image of you to your prospective clients.
Good to know SEO:
The success of every writing assignment that is linked with the internet world be it blog posts, articles, or website content; works closely with search engine optimization or SEO. After all, if no viewers are reaching your article or blog post, the value of your writing is undermined and virtually meaningless. Therefore, invest some time to learn SEO either through an institute offering SEO courses or through online tutorials available over the internet.
Infographics skill:
Consider the knowledge of infographics even in the most basic form to be a feather in your cap. Infographics provide context and narrative to your readers. Therefore, simple editing of images, learning the know-how of creating strong visuals with a compelling narrative can further up your skills as a freelancer. This is particularly important for any content creation for social media platforms.
Showcase your work
Having a blog or a website of your own to showcase your writing talent is a must for any freelancer. Therefore, consider investing in a website to upload your writings, articles, blogs. Any prospective clients would want to know about your writing style and expertise before they assign any work to you.
For instance, if you wish to work with tech companies, you could write about the latest gadgets in the market or those that are expected shortly. For book lovers, you could write about book reviews. If finance is your call, then writing articles specific to this field will help you to showcase your skills as a writer and let you present yourself as an expert in the field.
Create your portfolio:
Just as having a website of your own is very important, equally important is to create a strong portfolio of your writings. Getting your articles published on websites other than your own makes you come across as an experienced writer with a lot of work exposure.
This in turn helps you to get chosen for writing assignments from interested clients. Contributing regularly to popular websites such as Medium or Quora can give you a huge fan base and make you part of the writing community. What makes your writing stand out is the amount of care you show to your readers. How much does your writing consider the reader at large? The reader is the most important aspect of all of your writing endeavors.
Content Writing Course:
Being a certified content writer gives a boost to your qualifications as a freelancer. Doing a course in content writing empowers you with knowledge about all the above-mentioned aspects and prepares you well for the expectations and challenges in this field. A good option to try out would be to enroll in one of the best content writing courses offered in India.
Consider doing an online internship
Before going freelancing, an internship with a reputed content writing institute such as IIMSkills can greatly help you build a strong profile and give you the much-needed work experience. Other websites where you can do an internship would be Let’s Intern and Internshala.
How do you benefit from an internship? At the start of a freelancing career, an internship offers you exactly what you need to give a boost to your writing endeavors. You get an on-the-job training experience as you progress with your internship articles. The more you write, the better understanding you gain of what works and what you should be cautious about. How to eliminate plagiarism and make your content 100% original. How to get creative in arranging your ideas to attract your readers. These skills are learned best during an internship.
How to Find Freelance Writing Jobs In India?
With the above-listed things taken care of, you can now move on to finding freelance writing jobs in India. To begin with, you can:
Check out the freelancing websites in India: Several good freelancing websites allow you to sign up and search for work assignments. Some of them cater to particular niches while some offer a more general category of work. Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer, Lekhaka, and WorknHireare some of the popular websites that offer freelancing writing work.
1. Upwork is undoubtedly one of the biggest freelancing websites with millions of work opportunities sourced globally. They offer different flavors of writing jobs such as content writing, technical writing, copywriting amongst others. They also have a wide range of job availability related to the IT industry.
2. Fiverr, a reputed and one of the top freelancing websites, provides tremendous scope to freelancers in terms of writing jobs, digital marketing, programming and also offers voice recording assignments.
3. Freelancer is another global freelancing website that offers millions of wide-ranging freelancing jobs to choose from. Freelancers can bid on projects that they wish to work on to finalize the assignment.
4. Lekhaka is one such freelancing website that has writers from across the length and breadth of India offering work opportunities in multiple Indian languages. They also deal in translation jobs from English to other Indian languages.
5. WorknHire is an Indian freelancing website that caters to the Indian market. They offer work projects in various categories like content writing, IT and programming, finance among others.
It is also a good idea to sign up for a couple of such freelancing websites instead of relying on a single one. In this manner, you can regularly check out the available work assignments on these different sites and create a constant flow of work for yourself. As a beginner, do not get demotivated when you do not find work assignments as per your liking or if they do not pay much. What is important is to build a strong writing base and a good relationship with your clients. Every job well executed increases the likelihood of bringing a steady flow of well-paying assignments your way!
Offer to do guest posts
What exactly is a guest post and how does it help you? A guest post is when you write as a guest author on websites that allow guests to contribute to their website. It is a great way to enhance your writing skills, build your portfolio, and also lets you connect with your prospective clients. Therefore, if you are considering freelancing then also consider doing some guest posts for websites. Some well-known sites that accept guest posts are Mashable, India at a glance, and Outbrain.
Another approach could be to write to popular websites that cater to your niche. At times, some websites allow guests to contribute to their content. The best way to do this would be to ask by dropping an email through the contact details available on the ‘Contact us page of the website. There’s no harm in asking and unless we ask, we might never know!
Link to your LinkedIn Account:
LinkedIn continues to be one of the most important platforms for all professional connections including freelancing jobs. It is a great meeting place for people looking to offer jobs and people who are searching for jobs. Thus, make sure you have your profile created on LinkedIn and always maintain it up to date. Specify your niche or the subjects you specialize in to write in your profile.
LinkedIn allows you to build connections with other individuals and companies and this feature could help you to connect with your potential clients. Reach out to the clients that you wish to work with and interact with them through their LinkedIn posts. Increase your visibility to everyone by contributing to questions related to writing or content marketing.
Connect through Facebook groups
Have a Facebook account? Use your Facebook account to help you in searching for freelancing writing jobs. There are several Facebook groups where job requirements are posted daily.
These groups provide a lot of work opportunities through their membership and just by joining these groups, you get the advantage of knowing and connecting with the companies who are looking to hire freelancers. You can search on Facebook with keywords such as freelance writing or content writing to locate the groups. One such popular group is Media Jobs Daily (India).
Networking helps:
Being connected to writing forums on Facebook, LinkedIn, or even creating connections to writing groups on these platforms could help you in gaining future links to writing assignments. Being part of such groups and following publishing houses on Instagram would give you an insight into the current trends of the industry and what is in demand.
To Conclude:
Freelancing as a writer is a booming career choice with an ever-increasing number of writers and professionals opting for this field. The competition, therefore, is very high to carve your own niche in this space. Passion, dedication, and consistency are hallmarks to help you sustain and grow.
This article serves as a guide to provide relevant information that is essential to start your freelancing writing journey. Be open to new opportunities and write your way to attain greater success and a fulfilling writing career.
