Freelance writing can be a good way to earn extra income, but you may not know how to become a freelance writer The barrier of entry of becoming a freelance writer is very low. You can’t really ever do anything unless you come up with a plan and execute the proper steps to get your desired end result.

This is by far one of the most important steps that you can take to become a freelance writer. If you’re not honest with yourself during this step you probably won’t be able to reach your goal, or will waste a lot of unnecessary time getting there.

So, how many sorts of writers are there? Even a cursory glance will expose quite a list – reporters, poets, story tellers, reviewers, advertising copy writers, article writers, to mention a few. The secret is to look at your own writing style and the work that you have already produced and compare it with what has been published by other writers.

Many freelance writers often maintain their own blogs to showcase what kind of writing they are capable of doing; do you have a blog already? Some people belong to writing clubs to help sharpen their writing skills and get constructive criticism, if you do belong to such a group how is your work generally received?

No matter what type of writing you want to do as a freelancer you should already have written many pieces previous to becoming a freelance writer. A good example of this is if you want to write freelance, poetry you should have already written numerous poems. Gaining objective feedback for your previous writing before trying to become a freelance writer is highly recommended.

Once you have some pieces of work that you have done and you have received positive feedback on them, you should take your best pieces and put them together into a portfolio. You may think finding work as a freelance writer is the most difficult, this isn’t true, because of the internet, this has become quite simple, the difficult task is finding someone who will read your samples. Sending your portfolio to the right person is absolutely critical if you want to get beyond step one.

There is no excuse for you not to get the proper name and email address of the right person to send your portfolio to. The message is very important, be sure that you give an introduction to yourself and your work, but keep it brief; remember being polite is the best thing to do and make sure they understand you would like them to consider you to be a freelance writer and be a regular contributor for them.

The best case scenario is that you made sure your work was relevant to the publication you would like to become a freelance writer of and your work was top notch; if so, you may be asked to give an interview and if it goes well you may get a writing assignment as a test. If you are asked to write them a piece, you’re still not in the clear yet; freelance writers are not usually paid unless their content is put into publication. Therefore, you have to make sure you do some of the best writing of your life if you are asked to turn in an assignment.

Barry Walls online writing course has developed into what many internet marketers are calling the fastest day job killing program online ever. His training course and forum show experienced and new people alike how to make full time incomes in weeks, not months, using his freelance writing training