A Basic Guide To Freelance History Writing: How To Jump-Start Your Career

For many aspiring writers, it would be a dream-come-true to become a freelance writer. This is especially true for those who specialize in writing about history. Continue reading this article if you wish to discover how to launch yourself into the freelance history writing industry.

• Develop strong writing skills.
• This may seem like common sense, but it is important to make sure that you are a truly good writer.
• There is no such thing as too much practice or becoming too good of a writer. There is always room for improvement.

Be Informed.

• It is extremely crucial to be well informed on all aspects of history.
• This will ensure that you are as well-rounded as possible, and therefore, are more able to complete any sort of assignment that comes your way.
• If you are finally offered the opportunity to write and have no knowledge on the subject, it will show, and odds are the client may opt for more experienced writers the next time around.
• Try to study regularly. There will always be something new to learn, or something old to brush up on!

Become a good communicator.

• Make sure that you are comfortable communicating with people from all different walks of life, with different priorities.
• Like most industries, writing, especially freelance writing, is all about connections and relationships with other people.
• Freelance writing requires a lot of self-marketing; lots of communicating with others to market yourself as well as your work.
• Try to develop relationships with people in the history industry, whether it be someone at a magazine or even someone who is employed in a museum. Everyone knows someone.

Discipline yourself financially.

• Working for yourself and creating your own business essentially means becoming the bookkeeper for that business as well.
• Keep record of all invoices and tax filing.
• Be organized. This can not be stressed enough. Being sloppy or unorganized can cost you--literally.

Be persistent.

• If your goal is to write for large historian magazines, set that as a goal and keep working until it has been achieved.
• With the right dedication and the right steps taken, anything is possible.
• Never stop practicing: take a little time whenever you possibly can to write.
• Take the time to promote your work.
• Send samples to magazines, blog posts, and newspapers alike.
• Creating your own blog can even help get the word out about your writing. It is wise to use the internet to expand your horizons for writing.