Well, I've had a week to think carefully about the question, and I think I've come up with what I believe is the second mistake professional writers make. It's very tempting for an aspiring writer to just want to get his or her name out there, regardless of pay. Writing for free is a mistake that many aspiring professional writers simply don't recover from.
This mistake can take two different forms. The first is simply submitting written work in the form of articles and stories to various websites for no pay at all. There are many websites out there that will allow you to post your own work and make a little money. Even if that money is small, it's better than nothing.
The other trap aspiring writers fall into is the promise of pay at a later date. There are dozens of companies out there who will tell you that they can't afford to pay writers right now, but they'll get to it in the future. This is never true. NEVER. Even well-meaning companies don't follow through. Why pay for something you can get for free? If you volunteer your services, even once, don't expect that company to ever pay you. It simply doesn't make good business sense.
If you really want to be a professional writer, you have to treat yourself as a professional. Write for a fee, not for free. True, there may be instances where you want to donate your time, such as editing the newletter for a charitable organization, but these should be few and far between.
I received an e-mail this morning asking what mistakes a professional writer might make and how to avoid them. The list is long and confusing and ranges from what to avoid in a computer to what kind of clients you might seek out. However, I managed to shorten the list to five disastrous mistakes. The first of these is quite simple: don’t bite off more than you can chew.
I’ve met many aspiring professional writers who leap in with both feet and taken every job that comes along regardless of pay or who the particular client is. These writers seem to forget that while there are 24 hours in a day, no one can write 24 hours a day 7 days a week. If you take on every job that comes along, you run the risk of burning out and being unable to meet deadlines. Getting a reputation for missing deadlines is the kiss of death in the professional writing world.
Meeting deadlines is important, but there’s more to this first rule than that. Think of the beginning of your writing career as a résumé-building opportunity. Each project you finish, especially if that project is for a well-respected client, is another notch on your belt, figuratively speaking. As your experience grows and you gain a reputation for quality work, you can charge more money. You may be able to earn $60 or more per hour. However, this will not happen if you’ve committed yourself to 100 projects that pay $10 an hour.
Most professional writers are searching for the jobs that pay well. You won’t find these if you’re bogged down with all those little projects you should never have accepted in the first place. Pace yourself, know when to say “no,” and always be on the lookout for a job that you really shouldn’t turn down.
