Freelancing 101

If you want freedom, flexibility to express personal style, more time for your family, interests and hobbies, more variety and more control; and, you have self-discipline, a strong work ethic, good interpersonal skills, appropriate assertiveness, situational awareness, and don't mind working home alone, you may be ready to launch your business as an editorial freelancer.

Being an editorial freelancer takes a variety of professional abilities, personal attributes, and business skills. You will find the essentials for developing all of these in this booklet; as well as, definitions of the types of editorial freelancing, lists of skills, tools, resources, and pros and cons of freelancing.

This booklet answers the most common questions asked by editors considering the freelance life: How to get started-choosing a business name, type of business entity and accounting system, basics for marketing the new freelance business, find clients and assignments, how to identify possible fraud, how much to charge, and how to get paid. The authors share practical skills such as what language to include in service agreements and how to send invoices and collect payments.

Written by two experienced editorial freelance professionals at different places in their careers, the revised edition of Freelancing 101 includes expanded information about finding work through job placement and freelance websites, marketing freelance businesses and finding work using LinkedIn and social media, and details about SaaS tools that automate some of the tasks of running a freelance business.