Writing is an individual’s communication tool to share thoughts and ideas that convey expression. Writing is a globally used communication language among various individuals to stimulate interest or action from the reader.
What is Writing?
Every individual should understand the concept of writing itself before knowing if they want to write or not. Writing is the putting together of signs, alphabets, and numbers to convey a message in a readable form. The process of writing can be done through typing or writing it down with a book and pen.
How to Become a Writer.
How do you become a writer? The short answer is everyone writes. Nevertheless, becoming a writer who wants to take it as a profession, You don’t need a degree to be a writer or a certain age.
How Long Does it Take to Become a Writer?
To become a writer doesn’t have a particular period, it depends on one’s dedication and how well an individual assimilates. Becoming a writer by profession involves developing skills, building a portfolio, gaining knowledge, and at the same time gaining experience.
Naturally, It takes years of continuous writing, learning, and development to establish oneself as a profitable writer. We have different ways and time frames to learn and understand as individuals.
However, it does not matter if you are just starting your writing career or not, you might have some questions like how long an article should be(an article is a piece of writing of thoughts, ideas, and understanding about a particular topic).
If you are a beginner you should start with 1000 words, it will take at least 10-24 hours to come up with an article as a beginner. But for an experienced writer, it takes 5-10 hours.
Steps to Becoming a Writer.
There are several steps in becoming a writer. these are:
1. Choosing a path: As an aspiring writer, the first decision to be made is for you to pick a path. As a writer, there are several paths to pick from which are listed below.
- Blogs: They are outlets created to interest readers, blogs help in making connections globally. They serve as outlets writers use to express themselves and connect with readers.
- Freelance writing: freelance writers are independent writers, they mainly work remotely, taking on project-based assignments for clients.
- Fiction writing: These are prose written words, also called imaginative writing. It also involves creating prose that tells a story not based on real-life events.
- Ghostwriting: This involves you writing articles in another person’s name. This is done to establish the author’s brand and identity.
- Technical writing: This is the process of writing clear and concise content relating to applied science and complex scientific or technical concepts.
- Writing nonfiction books: This involves books that don’t tell fictional stories. It involves writing books that are based on real-life events and experiences.
- Copywriting: Copywriting involves writing to promote and market products and services.
- Content Journalism: This is the process of writing educational and detailed articles about a product.
Read Also: 10 Tips to Write a Good Resume to Land You a Job
2. Stop making excuses and take the first step: You probably wonder why you remain stagnant. The answer is, that you always keep thinking about when to start, how to start, what to write, who to write for, and soon. First, start with how to write and the basis of writing. When you start writing there will be answers to the remaining questions. Always keep taking a step further.
3. Write Every Day: as an individual who is determined to take writing as an occupation, writing every day should be your priority. By writing every day, you can discover your strengths and weaknesses and make corrections.
Below are ideas on what to write on.
- Free Writing with prompts.
- Creative writing exercises
- Journal entries.
- Blog posts and ideas.
- Emails or letters.
4. Make “deep work” the area of concentration: when writing you have to exclude yourself from any kind of distraction. An individual is said to be in a deep work state only when one is fully engaged in writing.
Mind you “it’s not how far it is how well”. There are certain steps to be followed. These are as follows:
Read a book titled Deep Work Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, by Cal Newport, and implement it.
5. Read More: As a writer, you should learn how to read books more often. Books would change your life as a writer. Some books I would recommend to writers are:
- On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Wrireader You Shooting Nonfiction by William Zinsser (best book on the mechanics of the language).
- Save the Cat by Blake Snyder (best book on story structure).
- Story Engineering by Larry Brooks (storytelling and novel writing).
- CA$HVERTISING: How to Use More than 100 Secrets of Ad-Agency Psychology to Make Big Money Selling Anything to Anyone by Drew Eric Whitman (structure and mechanics for copywriting).
- On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King (best book on being a writer).
6. Keep learning and Level Up: Some ask what degree a writer should have. The truth is that you don’t need any degree to start writing. What you need as a writer is consistent learning. Aside from books, there are other ways to learn how to level up your writing ability.
- Take online courses on platforms like Coursera, and Udemy.
- Set up and learn how to develop a website as a writer by turning it into an asset.
7. Engage in a Writing Community: if you plan on getting paid, you need to join a community. The more you engage with different individuals in a community by sharing ideas and experiences the more you gain knowledge.
You can find writers, especially those that belong to the same writing niche as you.
8. Find Paid Writing Opportunities: When you are ready to start monetizing your writing skills, there are various sites to get writing jobs from.
- Up-work.
- LinkedIn.
- Facebook.
- Fiverr.
- Social media channels like Twitter and Instagram.
9. Establish Credibility: Don’t forget to ask for testimonials, After you have written for a client. The following are the benefits of testimonials:
- It shows client satisfaction and even loyalty.
- Articulate exactly how you benefited each client.
- it acts as a referral to build trust in potential clients.
- It gives chances to increase a good client’s visibility.
- It helps you discover areas that need improvement.
How to Become a Profitable Writer.
Most individuals believe everything that works for party A should work for party B, which is very wrong. You can only use the party A procedure as a guide.
Create platforms, media outlets, and social media channels that change the way benefactors pay.
Something that generates multiple income streams, what worked previously for one content might not work for the same content. You don’t expect to make the same amount when you use the same technique as a person and make the same six-figure the person makes.
You have to take a good advantage in writing to learn how to monetize opportunities in front of you. This is actually for you, yes you, not the person who is waiting for a huge income for the month. To monetize your writing, you should write like you.
How Much Should You Charge as a Remote Writer?
There is no particular amount that a writer should charge. A writer should consider experience, the type of content to write, and the amount of work that would be done to the project.
Unlike the others, freelance writers charge their clients based on word count. According to research, over 500 freelance writers charge between $0.10 and $1 per word, depending on how broad and wide the project is. Below is a rough estimate of how much an experienced writer should charge a client.
According to research done by peak-freelance
- $250 to $399 is the most popular rate for a 1,500-word blog post.
- $500 to $999 is the most popular rate for writing a whitepaper.
The most popular pricing model is per project.
How Long Does it Take to Write an Article?
The time it takes to write an article can vary depending on several factors, such as the writer’s experience, the length and complexity of the article, the amount of research required, and how fast a writer is.
Following research, the time taken by a writer to write an article can take several days, depending on how experienced and capable a writer is about a specific project requirement. It takes a professional writer with experience 2 or 3 hours to complete an article, while it takes a beginner 48 hours to complete a well-detailed article.
Conclusion.
Having a good writing skill, you can gain knowledge on how to monetize your skills, using platforms like LinkedIn, Fiverr, Upwork, etc You cannot expect to make money for something you do not have.
There are so many opportunities you can take advantage of. It’s up to you what choices you make. Writing can be just a part-time job, at first. But might turn to a full-time job that pays well than 9-5 jobs.