Why Not be the One in Four? What Freelancers are Making Today

I'm a big believer in sharing information, especially about money, among freelancers. That's one reason I conducted a freelance income survey earlier this year and one in 2010. Since then, I've collected more responses; so far 210 freelancers have participated in the survey. (And a big thank you to all who have!)

According to the latest responses:

• 30 percent of freelancers make less than $20,000/year;
• 22 percent of freelancers make between $20,000 and $39,999/year;
• 20 percent of freelancers make between $40,000 and $59,999/year;
• 12 percent of freelancers make between $60,000 and $79,999/year;
• 8 percent of freelancers make between $80,000 and $99,999/year; and
• 8 percent of freelancers make more than $100,000/year.

Sure, I find it a little depressing that nearly one in three freelancers is making less than $20,000/year. I don't know anyone who can live on that kind of money, but it's impossible to tell from the survey how many hours these freelancers are working--or how seriously they're taking their careers. I prefer to focus on the fact that one in four freelancers is making $60,000 or more a year--and that six in ten say they're on target to make more in 2011 than they did in 2012. That's awesome news.

My point? If you're new to freelancing, don't think that you have to settle for making a few bucks here and there writing for content mills or other per-click sites. Plenty of freelancers make good money--real money--as writers. The purpose of this blog is to help you do so.

With just over two months before 2012, I hope you're thinking about next year already. The end of the year is the perfect time to retool your career, whether that means changing the way you work, pursuing new markets, or exploring other types of writing like ghostwriting (responsible for the majority of my income and work these days) or writing for corporations. In future posts, I'll talk about how to retool in 2012.

***And if you're new to freelancing, don't forget to check out my Writer's Digest webinar (Make Money NOW Selling Articles) this Thursday, October 27. If you're serious about freelancing for print and online markets, it will be the best $79 you ever spend.

The State of Fulltime Freelancer's Work, 2011

I reported last week on some of the results of the 2011 Freelance Income Survey. Today, let's take a look at what types of work we're doing. With 191 results in (remember, you can still take the survey or ask your freelancing friends to), here's the type of work freelancers are performing for clients today. (The question asked what types of work did you paid to do in 2010/first six months of 2011):

• 15 percent are writing for the web (excluding blogging)
• 12 percent are writing consumer magazine articles
• 11 percent are writing for corporations/businesses
  
• 10 percent are editing (all types)
  
• 9 percent are writing trade magazine articles
• 8 percent are blogging
• 8 percent are writing custom magazine articles
• 5 percent are writing for nonprofits
• 5 percent are writing newspaper articles
• 4 percent are writing their own books/book proposals
• 3 percent are ghostwriting
  
• 3 percent are reselling/reprinting previously published work
• 3 percent are speaking/teaching
• 2 percent are writing academic magazine articles

Compared to last year's results, fewer freelancers are writing for consumer magazines and more are writing for the web and blogging for pay. (I'll post soon about blogging for bucks, and why you should.)

Of course freelancers are doing other jobs for pay, too. I'll report on the "other" types of work we're making money from--you may come away with some great ideas for your freelance career.