So with every newspaper and magazine doing yearly retrospective roundups at the moment, I thought I’d get involved. It’s been just over a year since I plunged into the world of freelance journalism full time and while it’s easily been the best year of my life, it’s also been incredibly challenging. With the jobs market not quite what it used to be, freelancing has become a sensible (and sometimes the only) option for many -  and I thought this post might be useful to those new to freelancing, or even just thinking about it. This is what I’ve learnt:

1. Other freelancers are friendly

They’re your rivals, but they can also be part of your support network and even good friends. No one knows about the highs and lows of freelancing quite like another freelancer, and when you spend most of your time working from home, they’re also essentially your co-workers. Without the anecdotes, advice and drinks I’ve had from the people on networks like Journobiz and Writeclub, this year would have been a lot harder and not nearly as fun.

2. There are all sorts of reasons for rejection

Just because one editor has turned down an idea doesn’t mean that other editors will feel the same. It might have something to do with another piece they’re running, or could even be because it doesn’t fit with advertising. The idea may need a bit of a re-jig for a different publication, but pitch, re-pitch and re-pitch again. For example, I‘ve got a piece about to come out in a national travel magazine that fell flat on its face when I originally tried to sell it back in April. I suppose this point could also come under the heading ‘don’t throw old  ideas away’ – if you think it’s got legs, it probably does. It might just need a slightly different angle.

3. It’s good to talk

Following up on a pitch is vital – as important as the initial pitch itself. Once you’ve emailed an idea to an editor, it’s easy to sit back and assume that they’ve seen it and didn’t like it, but it’s always worth a quick call just to check. An early run-in with a particularly rude editor on a national put me off doing this for some time, but once I started, my hit rate increased massively. 

4. Always, always clarify

…if you’re unsure about anything in the brief. It may be that you’re not 100 per cent certain you’ve read something correctly, it may be that the editor has been somewhat vague; in either case it’s always worth double checking. It could save you from disaster later. It happened to me at in the early days of my freelancing: I read a brief in a different way from that intended, resulting in me doing much more work that I had to do, and feeling like a prize fool when the editor came back to me explaining what she was really after. Luckily, as I’d overcompensated the problem was rectified pretty quickly… had it been the other way round, things could have been a lot worse.

5. Keep calm and carry on

Just before I made the plunge, a good friend advised me never to worry about the stuff I couldn’t change. By that he meant that although it may seem tempting, it’s useless to lie awake at night worrying about a pitch that hasn’t been answered, a looming deadline or a mistake you’ve already made. It’s easier said than done, but it’s advice that has helped me through the quieter times no end. However worried you are about something, make a concerted effort to switch off at the end of the day (unless you can actually do something to put it right, of course). It may save your sanity.

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