How to Become a Professional Writer: 7 Steps to Launch Your Career

Launch your writing career with these 7 steps and get answers to the top questions aspiring writers are asking about their career prospects. 

By Julie Tyler Ruiz

Contents:

• How to become a professional writer: 7 steps
• Additional strategies for launching your writing career
• Frequently asked questions (FAQ) 

How to become a professional writer: 7 steps

Professional writing is a diverse and competitive field, with many opportunities to make a living doing what you love. There are many paths you could take. Some people start in another career and then transition into writing, while others train for a writing career from the start and then upgrade their skills, job titles, and income over time. 

For more background on what it means to write professionally, including essential skills, industry trends, and career paths, read my article, "Your 2024 Quick Guide to Professional Writing." 

Let's explore the main steps for launching a writing career that introduces you to exciting projects and gets you paid. Follow these steps in the order I've listed them to get the most value: 

1. Explore your writing career options. 

Start by exploring the range of possibility in front of you, from the industries you might enjoy working in to the kinds of writing you want to do. Many professional writers specialize in different areas. Knowing a bit about these areas of specialization can make it easier to chart your professional writing path: 

• SEO (search engine optimization) content marketing: optimizing web content to rank high in internet searches and reach audiences.
• Technical writing: creating clear, user-friendly documentation to help people use products and systems easily.
• Journalism: investigating information, events, or news and reporting it to the public through newspapers, magazines, radio, internet, or TV.
• Content writing: creating written material, such as blog posts, articles, and web pages to inform and engage an audience, as well as increase traffic and drive sales.
• Copywriting: writing persuasive and compelling text for advertising, marketing, or sales campaigns to get consumers' attention and motivate them to make a purchase.
• Creative writing: crafting original, artistic texts in genres like fiction, poetry, drama, and nonfiction to express ideas and inspire readers. 
• Academic writing: composing structured and formal texts that provide groundbreaking discoveries, analyze data, or posit arguments.
• Grant writing: preparing and submitting proposals to organizations like businesses, foundations, and government agencies to secure funding for socially impactful projects. 
• Speech writing: crafting persuasive and engaging speeches that public figures, politicians, or celebrities use to deliver a message to their audiences. 

Exploration tip: Research the top professional writers in the specialization areas you are most interested in to find out how they got started and what methods they use to succeed. 

2. Describe your ideal writing career path. 

Start this process by identifying the kind of writing career you want to pursue and setting clear, specific, and attainable goals. That way, you can focus on the actions that will lead to what you want, while measuring your progress along the way. 

Here are a few examples:

• Find full-time employment as a writer for a company. 
• Write and sell books on your own platform. 
• Complete short-term writing projects for companies or entrepreneurs and charge premium rates. 
• Get published in journals and magazines that pay contributors. 

Goal-setting tip: Make your goals ambitious and aspirational, even if you're not sure how you'll reach them. Give yourself time to explore your potential and writing passions, while taking action to advance your writing career.  

3. Build writing skills.  

Once you can state your writing career goal clearly, the next step is to build relevant writing skills. As a professional writer, you'll need several foundational skills to navigate a competitive field, pivot when necessary, and build expertise in an area of specialization. These foundational skills include:  

• Writing with purpose and audience in mind.
• Writing sales copy to inspires customers to buy.
• Researching effectively to uncover new information.
• Writing in different modes: informative, persuasive, entertaining, analytical, instructional, reflective, personal, or creative. 
• Telling stories of varying lengths.
• Sharing your own experience in a thought-provoking and engaging way.

As you begin to specialize in an area of professional writing, you'll discover additional skills you'll need to hone. For example, in SEO content marketing, you'll need to conduct in-depth keyword research to understand what internet users are searching for online, while in technical writing, you'll need to explain technical concepts clearly to users and help them overcome challenges. 

To build foundational and specialized skills, you can take courses on different writing topics and join a writing community and get feedback on your work. 

4. Establish a daily writing practice.  

Writing something every day helps you remain accustomed to expressing yourself in words and generate new ideas on command. Other benefits of having a daily writing practice include: 

• Honing your abilities. 
• Staying on top of emerging trends in this field. 
• Writing faster without sacrificing quality. 
• Meeting the evolving needs and expectations of readers. 

Your daily writing practice can include a combination of general writing exercises, assignments you complete for your job or for a client, and personal writing projects you complete to build your portfolio. 

Here are some resources you can invest in to support your daily writing practice: 

• Writing prompts, guided reflections, and short exercises to encourage deep and out-of-the-box thinking. 
• Physical journal or a journaling app that gives you a place to record your personal reflections and experiences. 
• Subscriptions to writing influencers' newsletters, blogs, podcasts, or exclusive content that put you in touch with the most effective writing techniques. 

Check out The SoulTruth Journal, a physical workbook for writers with over 30 in-depth writing prompts (along with sample answers from real writers), to find confidence and inspiration within. 

5. Build a robust writing website. 

As you gain experience and complete writing projects, set up a writing website where readers, employers, clients, or collaborators can connect with and learn more about you. Consider investing in a dedicated domain that displays either your full name and title, like JohnnyJonesContentWriter.com, or a brand name like mine, StoryBoldStudio.com. 

Start with basic pages such as a HOME, ABOUT, and CONTACT page. Over time, you can add more valuable content to your site so that it accomplishes several things for you: 

• Attracts web traffic.  
• Showcases your best work in a portfolio.
• Takes payments for the writing services you offer.
• Lists your writing experience. 
• Tells the story of how you became a writer.
• Captures contact information and messages from site visitors. 
• Shares your unique takes on different topics related to your industry or area of specialization, such as in a blog.
• Provides links to any online publications you may have. 
• Shares testimonials from happy clients. 

Website tip: Some site-building platforms may offer a built-in email system that allows you to manage your contacts and send out messages to email subscribers from an email address that includes your domain. 

6. Set up writing-centered social media accounts. 

Just like having your own writing website, having a social media presence centered around writing makes it easier for people to find you online. The more you establish your brand and voice online, the more opportunities you'll have to connect with readers, find employment, attract clients, and collaborate with fellow writers.

In this step, you can create new accounts or convert your personal accounts to writing. Post content on a regular basis that displays your experience, expertise, abilities, and best work. You can even share content from other accounts that represents your writing interests and creates community on social media platforms. 

7. Pursue paid writing opportunities. 

With your website and social media in place, you can look for freelance, contract, or full-time work with the confidence that anyone who finds you online will see your professionalism and career dedication.  

Depending on the writing career goals you set forth in this journey, you can take different approaches: 

• Looking for full-time job openings on sites like Indeed, LinkedIn, and Glassdoor. 
• Looking for short-term gigs on freelance sites like Upwork or Freelancer.com. 
• Networking to find opportunities through word-of-mouth.

Additional strategies for pursuing a writing career 

I've compiled a few extra strategies to give you even more momentum as you begin writing professionally: 

Gain experience with entry-level jobs and short-term projects.  

When you're first starting out and looking to test out your writing talents, entry-level jobs and short-term projects, such as contract or freelance work, give you the chance to sharpen your skills and build a strong professional network. Take on roles and projects that allow you to improve your skills incrementally.

Look for opportunities in "unexpected" places.

You can find writing jobs in just about any industry beyond publishing houses and media companies. Companies across industries need skilled writers to produce effective content.  When searching for jobs, keep an open mind and explore industries like tech, finance, healthcare, non-profits, and more.

In addition, broaden your search to include a variety of roles. You'll find plenty of writer-focused job titles, such as technical writer or copywriter, as well as roles that don't include "writer" in the job title, but that still involve a lot of writing, such as "social media marketer," content strategist," and "communications manager."  

Establish your own voice in in this field.

A critical aspect of a successful writing career is to establish your own unique and authoritative voice in the field. This means that you not only produce skillful work, but also articulating your ideas about writing itself. Here are some questions to spark some ideas of what to share:

• What do you think of the latest trends in content writing, SEO, technical writing, and other areas?
• How do you overcome writing challenges?
• What are some of the best resources you'd recommend to other writers? 

You can position yourself as knowledgeable and credible by sharing your ideas on social media, becoming a speaker at a writing conference, blogging about writing, and networking extensively both online and offline. 

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

I've compiled some of the top questions that aspiring professional writers have asked me or searched for on the internet, earnestly investigating their career prospects. My goal here is to provide clear answers to these questions, eliminate uncertainty, and offer actionable steps any writer can take to launch a successful career. 

Do you need a degree to be a writer?

A degree is not required to be a professional writer, though earning a degree can certainly be a career asset. Employers are increasingly focusing on job candidates' skills and experience and listing degrees as a "preferred" rather than "required" qualifications, and in some job listings employers don't mention degrees at all. 

With all this said, getting a degree related to writing can be a great way to build writing skills and explore the world's best literature. Common majors include English, Publishing, journalism, and communications. 

What if you have a degree in another field? Degrees in other fields like business, computer science, medicine, or finance give you unique perspectives on different topics. You can always find a way to apply your non-writing skills to your writing goals. For example, if you have a background in medicine, you can become a medical writer or offer editing services to help scientists and medical researchers polish their work, while a business degree could make it easier to develop and market your writing services to potential clients. 

Also remember that there are plenty of ways to build the skills you need for a writing career, including signing up for courses, taking workshops, attending conferences, hiring a writing coach, and joining a writing community.  

To gauge what qualifications you need to apply for writing jobs, research current job listings on career sites like LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and Indeed. 

What is a professional writing sample? 

A professional writing sample is a document that showcases your writing abilities and professionalism to potential employers, clients, or collaborators. Typically, you'd compile samples of things you wrote in a prior job, a class you took, or a freelance project you completed, or projects you completed on your own. 

The most useful writing samples will be relevant to the opportunity you're going after and skillfully written. When possible, choose samples of writing that were able to get results, like a sales page you wrote that attracted a lot of new customers, a grant proposal that succeeded in securing funding, or a blog post that boosted your website's views. 

Other examples of professional writing samples include:

• Articles
• Press releases
• Landing pages 
• Social media captions
• Product descriptions
• Email campaigns
• Industry reports and white papers
• Technical documentation
• Speech scripts

You can display professional writing samples on your website, online portfolio, or social media accounts. 

What is the best way to transition into a career in writing?

After identifying your career goals, the best way to transition into a writing career is to identify your writing skill gaps. What are the in-demand skills employers are looking for in your desired role? In addition, assess your existing skills, perhaps from job experience or a degree in another field, which may actually prove useful in your writing journey.

To build writing skills, you can take courses, attend writing conferences, join a writing community, and establish a daily writing practice. 

Additional steps for switching careers include building a portfolio, networking to connect with other professionals and discover job openings, refining your resume and cover letter, and applying for jobs that interest you. 

How hard is it to become a full-time writer? 

The degree of difficulty you will experience depends on several factors, including your skills, experience, professional references, and the goals you've set for yourself. For example, if you have sharp writing skills but little professional experience, you may need to take time to build a portfolio of work before applying for your dream writing job. Conversely, if you have an extensive network and strong writing samples, you could very well land a great entry-level job that allows you to hone your skills and prepare for a more advanced role in the future. 

Keep in mind that professional writing is a rapidly evolving and competitive field. Building a successful writing career takes dedication and a strategic approach. Career development usually occurs over a period of several years. 

Tip: Take a moment to define what "full-time writer" means to you. You might define it as finding a full-time position at a company or sourcing enough paying clients to replace your nine-to-five and even exceed your income goals. 

What are the qualities of a professional writer?

Besides having a robust writing skillset, professional writers need several important qualities to succeed: 

• Openness to feedback 
• Resilience 
• Curiosity 
• Vivid imagination
• Passion for writing and reading 
• Consistency 

The good news is that you can cultivate these qualities no matter your background or level of experience. For example, by regularly soliciting feedback on your work, you develop three important things:

• A growth mindset. You're always looking for ways to improve your writing.
• The ability to accept a variety of viewpoints, from glowing praise to constructive criticism, with grace.
• Discernment. You can identify and implement the most helpful feedback and disregard the rest.