by T. Jay Kane

Created on: January 02, 2010

The Internet seems to have changed the face of freelance writing for the better. Before the Internet freelance writers had to contact various publications, send query letters, pitch story ideas, and receive a lot of rejection.  Not anymore.  Not in this digital age.  Now all a freelance writer has to do is know how to access the web and he or she can start making money immediately.  Will it be a lot of money?  Probably not, but the time spent being paid automatically, no matter how little the payment, is time that can also be spent producing more content / articles. 

Think of it this way.  Before the Internet, a freelance writer would have had to wait months before hearing back from an editor who may be interested in a story the writer pitched via query letter.  Then, after all that time the writer has spent waiting for a response, it is discovered that the editor wants the writer to take a slightly different direction with the story.  This all happens before the writer can even begin interviewing and researching.

With the advancement of the Internet, however, freelance writers are now freer than ever to write what they want, when they want, and still bring in an income.

Comparisons have been made between print freelance writing assignments and online freelance writing work and while print jobs usually have the highest upfront payments, few if any offer view / advertising royalties for life (or at least the life of the publication which printed the content).  When a freelance writer starts writing on the Internet the earnings at first will be small, but over time, those royalties grow, as does the amount of content the writer has on the web. 

With the amount of options that exist on the web there is no reason why a full time freelance writer can't make what they do a full time job.  Between the monetization of various articles, blogs, and social networking platforms there doesn't seem to be any reason for a freelance writer not to be able to produce a meaningful income in exchange for a hefty investment of time and perseverance.

In the days of print only publications it would have seemed that freelance writers were forced to spend more time finding clients to pay for articles instead of actually writing them.  These days, with everybody wanting an online presence, the potential clients for freelance writers are countless and writers are now able to write as often as they want. 

The fact that the Internet is now more mobile than ever is another way that the Internet has changed freelance writing.  Mobile applications for cell phones and net books make content production a task that can be completed from almost anywhere.  Writers can draft articles, update blogs, and check in on their social networks while on the fly, whereas before they would have been tied to a desk top (if not typewriter) and a land line telephone. 

For the freelance writer with a couple of years under their belt it becomes quite an easy task to write one article while being paid for the use of dozens (if not hundreds) of other articles posted elsewhere.  It is this idea that most shows how technology and the Internet have changed freelance writing. 

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