Freelance Writing - any money to be made?

Hi all

Am thinking of giving Freelance writing a go as a part time career.

Have plenty of ideas and am confident in my writing ability but am wondering if this is a difficult market to break into and if there is any money to be made from it?

I now it will depend on the hours you work etc but if anyone has a rough idea of typical earnings or any advice that would be great !

I did a great nightcourse in Ballyfermot Senior College: 'Print Journalism'. It taught me all the basic skills and gave me a good idea of what the life of a freelancer entails. We also got to use Quark Xpress to edit, which will stand to me.
That said, it gave me a good idea that the career is not for me! I've had stuff published before, mainly arts-related reviews and interviews, and while I'm sure I'll do it as a hobby/money-spinner in the future, being a full-time freelancer is not for me. Its a realy uphill struggle and very difficult to make money out of. There is very little stability and it is quite anti-social as you do alot of work from home. As a freelancer you wouldn't have an office so you'd have to think about things like phonebills, computers, recording equipment, travel expenses etc.
On the upside it is a very interesting and challenging career and you would not be bored. If you like working on your own and are self-motivated then it will be easier. I got one or two books when I researched into it: 'The Freelance Writer's Handbook' - Andrew Crofts and You can Write for Magazines- Greg Daugherty. They were reccomended by the lecturer and really gave the an idea of the reality of the career. Both are available on Amazon. If you have any more q's I'll help if I can. I think I wrote down somewhere what price you should get for articles etc. I'll post if I can dig it out.

finny said:

Both are available on Amazon. If you have any more q's I'll help if I can. I think I wrote down somewhere what price you should get for articles etc. I'll post if I can dig it out.

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Very interesting post finny thanks for that, it'd be great if you could dig that info out too it's a field i'm also very interested in. Am ordering both those books now!

thanks for your great honest advice finny.

I'm currently a stay at home mom and thinking of getting back to work when the kids are a bit older. My fear was though that it would be a lonley profession and after all these years at home maybe a part time job with adult conversation might be better

Have spoken to a few people that have had the odd article printed for the hearld etc and the feedback was it was a lot of hours in terms of researching and writing the article for the small return(think is might have been around the 100 euro mark but not sure)

Sticking with the writing theme, I have written a few screen plays but as yet haven't done anything about getting them to people who could potentially bring them to Life and make me a millionaire in the process!!

Anyone suggest any contacts?

Apologies for hijacking your post Ice...keep at the writing!