Marketing yourself as a writer is perhaps one of the hardest parts of being a freelance writer. Rejection is hard, and nobody likes to hear the word no. The fear of that simple word is enough to make many writers entertain second thoughts about submitting a resume or a writing sample.
Freelance writing is your business, whether you do it part-time or as a full-time career, so it needs to be treated like a business. A business can not grow or become successful without marketing.
The first step is to get your name out there where it can be seen. Create a website or blog where you can showcase your talent with writing samples and links to published works. Place a resume on the site as well, and consider posting your standard rates for various projects. Now that your name will be out there, protect it fiercely.If you do writing for companies that may change your work so that it is not such good writing any longer, use a pseudonym if possible.
Having your name out there is useless if no one can find you, so bring yourself to their attention. Query publications and websites that you are interested in writing for and be sure to follow up all queries with additional emails or phone calls to let them know that you are still interested.
Use social networking to your advantage as well. Sites like twitter, facebook and myspace will allow you to reach more people in a shorter amount of time. If you update your website, or a new article is published, announce it to the world on these sites and ask others to pass it on to friends and family. Word of mouth has worked to build businesses for as long as anyone can remember!
