Note from Jennifer:  I had an amazing experience keynoting at the Content Byte Summit in Sydney, Australia. I met a ton of new friends, learned a lot from the sessions, and delivered a keynote speech that I am very proud of. Huge thank you to Lynne and Rachel who put on an amazing conference. I’m going to be sharing a recap later this week of all the cool new things I learned. But I wanted to give them a well-deserved shout out today. And if you aren’t already listening to the Content Byte podcast, do yourself a favor and start listening today. 

This year has been hard for freelancers. We’ve wondered if ChatGPT is taking our jobs. Many of us have seen our favorite editors lose their jobs. And a lot of us have had a slow down in work that lasted long enough to make us more than a little bit nervous. 

And right now, it seems like freelancers are starting to see a pickup in work. Or they are not. And if you are in the latter category, you are likely wondering if the slowdown is more than a slowdown, but the end of freelancing as we know it. 

I recently saw a post from a freelancer I’ve known and respected for many years. They declared that the content marketing bubble has fully burst, and the revolution is over. Maybe I’m just an eternal optimist, but I don’t agree – at all. 

I think we are in a period of transformation and transition. And each of us may need to change our offerings and our skills some. But I absolutely do not think that freelancing writing is over or dead.  

We need to build up our pipeline

A few months ago, Ed Gandia said that we’ve gotten used to work coming to us. And we’ve gotten soft. We’ve gotten out of the marketing habit. And so our pipeline has dried up. Plus we’ve forgotten that we used to have to regularly market ourselves to keep work flowing. 

I think that he’s absolutely right. I know that was the case for me. Since he made that comment, I’ve spent all summer marketing. And marketing and marketing. At first I didn’t see much results. Then in August, things started picking up. I landed a few new clients. And my old clients started to emerge. And I had a great August. Right before I left for Australia, I had four new client calls and two of them are turning into new work when I get back. 

Do more of what’s working

I’ve been hearing from some writers that they are seeing the same pickup. But if you aren’t, don’t rush to find a new career or assume that the bubble has burst. I think it’s very likely that your pickup might be just around the corner. And you just need to keep marketing. 

Freelance writing is cyclical. It goes up and down. I think that stopping marketing is not the answer. And if you do that, then yes, your business is going to stay slow and likely wither away. If you decide that the bubble has burst and it’s over, then you are going to quickly find a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

That said, the pickup is uneven. My writer friend mentioned that he didn’t want to join the 15 million people jamming up editors’ inboxes. I’ve got a different opinion.

Many of my clients who faded away haven’t come back. And much of my work is coming from new clients. I’m seeing an increase in copywriting work. And also, in strategy. Both which make sense to me with generative AI now a permanent part of our industry. 

Things have changed forever in the past year in our industry. And each of us will have to adjust, but there isn’t a magic bullet or path. And because each of us brings different skills and expertise and has a different perfect client, then the answer is different for each of us. 

So if you aren’t seeing a pickup in work right now, look at what is working right now. Are you getting more work in a specific industry? Or a type of work? If so, head in that direction. My biggest advice is, if something is working, do more of that. If what you are doing right now isn’t working, such as your marketing strategies or your chosen niche, then try a new direction – try something different. 

It would be wonderful if we were given a map of where to go. But we aren’t. And we have to figure out which clients have a need for freelancing help right now as well as which niches and types of writing provide the best opportunities for us. Yes, that’s frustrating. Yes, it’s scary. But you can be successful. And you can find clients that need your specific skills, strengths, and experience. 

Because many writers are starting to see work pickup, now is the time to really focus on marketing and figure out where your best fit is right now.

How to get more freelance writing work

Here are nine things to do right now to help you get your pipeline full or at least fuller:

1. Look for new niches. Since the pickup is uneven, look to see if you have niches that you aren’t pursuing that might have more work than the direction you are currently pursuing. Check out this post on looking for niches in your past jobs, which is something I saw many writers overlooking during my recent 60 coaching calls. 
2. Update your LinkedIn profile. Three of my four new clients found me on LinkedIn. Take a few minutes to make sure your LinkedIn profile is up to date. 
   1. Is your title what potential clients are likely to search? 
   2. Do you have the most recent client list in your About section?
   3. Are your niches and sub-niches in your About section and up to date?
3. Add new clips to your website. Clients want to see clips. And potential clients who come to me have already found my clips. But I found many writers don’t update their clips very often. So go look at your site and put up your best and most recent clips. I promise potential clients will notice. And if your clips are unbylined, yes, you still can include them in most cases. Check out this post for details. 
4. Reach out to current clients. I talk about this a lot – check out this post on how to do it. And I will continue talking about it. Because I think that this is the most important (and easiest marketing) that you can do. Editors are most likely to assign work to whoever is top of mind. Plus they are busy. So when you reach out they know that if they get a project a week later that you are likely going to be available, which saves them a crap ton of time. 
5. Follow up on all of your LOIs from the summer. If you sent LOIs anytime this year, now is the time to follow up. I know a lot of people didn’t hear back from many LOIs this summer. And that gives you a great start to get marketing – follow up on every single LOI you’ve sent this year. Marketing with LOIs is a timing game. You need to show up in their inbox when they have a need. When you follow up, you increase your chances of emailing just when they have a project needing a writer. Check out this post on following up. 
6. Track down any editors who changed jobs. Many content marketing managers and editors have lost their jobs over the past year. Others have changed jobs on purpose. I’ve had many editors that I worked with leave their current role. I recently had an editor I worked with for years hire me at her new job. So don’t wait for them to find you, but instead find out where they are working and offer your services. 
7. Ask for referrals. If you follow my monthly income posts, you’ll likely notice that a lot of my work comes from referrals both from current clients as well as writers. But most of the time you have to proactively set up a referral network with writers and directly ask clients for referrals.
8. Start sending new LOIs. If work is slow, start sending out new LOIs. Check out this survey to find out what is currently working for cold outreach. And also this post on LOIs. I personally think that other methods, such as referrals, networking and inbound leads from LinkedIn are much more effective to land work. But I do think that cold outreach has its place in landing work, especially as a complement to other methods. Be sure to also check out this post on customizing your LOI for multiple niches. However, I do think that it’s not worth sending them out if you aren’t going to follow up. So be sure to set reminders and follow through when they come up.
9. Send any referrals to other writers. If you get more work than you can handle with all this marketing or you run across work that is not a fit for you, then refer it to other writers. The best way to get other writers to share overflow work with you isn’t to ask but instead share work with them. 

Yes, It’s scary when It’s slow. And I know for many people, including myself, this recent slowdown lasted longer and felt different. If you are still there, don’t give up. But also don’t keep doing things that aren’t working. Keep experimenting and finding your path. If something is working, then do more of that. But if it’s not, then try something else. 

Keeping going. Keeping trying. You’ve got this. 

How is your business looking? Are you seeing a pickup? What are you doing now for marketing?