What Fulltime Freelancers are Writing These Days

According to the recent survey of 100 fulltime freelancers (see below post), we discovered that 55 percent expect to make more money in 2010 than they did in 2009; 30 percent expect to make about the same. So what exactly are they doing to make their money?

One survey question asked about the kind of work they do, giving ten options (along with an “other” category.)

The results:

23 percent write consumer magazine articles ;
14 percent blog and/or write for other online markets;
13 percent write trade magazine articles;
12 percent do corporate writing/copywriting;
12 percent write custom magazine articles;
7 percent write book and/or book proposals;
5 percent speak and/or teach;
3 percent ghostwrite books and/or book proposals;
2 percent sell reprints to magazines or other markets; and
2 percent consult.

But another 7 percent of respondents indicated that they do others kinds of work in addition to these ten categories, including writing for newspapers (5 percent) and editing/copy editing (2 percent). One freelancer writes patient education material; another does spokesperson work; and another writes continuing education materials for physicians and other medical professionals.

In a future survey, I’ll explore how lucrative (and likely to grow--or shrink) some of the most popular writing markets are. In the meantime, I suggest you look at the type of work you’re doing, and consider whether there are other types you could explore. You may be overlooking potential markets for your work.