2023: An Assessment

I’ve been in the writing game for some time, but I can honestly say I’ve never had a year like 2023. As I discussed in a previous post, to succeed as a freelancer, you have to think of it as a long game. Whenever possible, I have worked on forming and building solid working relationships with editors and clients. To me, this is the most effective way to ensure regular assignments.  However, sometimes this also means knowing when to say goodbye to a client.

For most of my career, I've been lucky to form solid relationships with approximately a half-dozen editors at different trade publications.  I was fortunate to keep this core network of clients for about a decade (wow!), and it made up the lion’s share of my project list (with the occasional “new” market in the mix). Slowly, those relationships dissolved over the last two years. The biggest issue? The workload was far outpacing the pay.

The magazine landscape was already changing in 2022. I decided to shift my focus from features to writing content for businesses in the new year. It seemed to be more lucrative. This was a tough sell to the businesses I approached. I cut back on the lower-paying magazine clients and focused on those with the higher rate. That work remained steady, so I continued taking assignments while building my content writing portfolio. Despite my efforts, it never seemed to take off.

I had one longtime, bread-and-butter magazine client notify me at the end of 2022 that the magazine had been sold. It would cease publication by year’s end. Gulp. I did what I normally did—reached out to former clients, possible prospects, and hoped for the best.

Two things happened.

·        I contacted the new editor of a pub I wrote for once, about five years ago. At the time, they were a fledgling magazine still finding their footing. It’s now well-established and the new editor said they use freelancers for one of their sections. I was happy to not only talk with her but accept an assignment.

·        The editor of the magazine that folded at the end of 2022 contacted me in early 2023. The pub was revamped, and would I be interested in a few assignments? You bet!

Both relationships were to be short-lived.  

I wrote two profiles for the first editor, and that came to an end. After a few months of assignments, the editor of the pub that had been sold stopped contacting me. I gave it some time, then reached out to her. She explained they’d taken most of their work in house, but she was happy with my work and hoped there would be opportunities to work with me in the new year.

I have a few remaining clients and I truly enjoy the work. But it was time to mobilize again. Earlier this week, I went back to what has always worked for me—sending LOIs to folks, reconnecting with stagnant contacts on LinkedIn, and letting other writers in my network know I’m open to referrals. Of those efforts, one director of communications has expressed interest in collaborating.

I hope to expand into more editing and proofreading work, as well.