This is so true. With so many freelance writers in the market, we are struggling to get the highest paying job, but for most of us, we are simply struggling to get a job, regardless of the payment.

I agree with your truths to the letter. I am the reluctant poster child for a few of them and am living by some of the others as I reinvent myself.

My professional background consists of 15 years in distribution and distribution consulting and more than 10 years in marketing and sales. My formal education is in theology, philosophy and apologetics – college and some grad school.

Since 2004 I have enjoyed a blissful existence writing marketing and PR copy for industrial companies and profile, technical and news articles on many subjects for trade publications. My time split fairly evenly between these two fields, I managed six figures in each year since then and about a half hour nap every afternoon. It is a life I always imagined and work I was made for…I only wished I had not waited until my early 40′s to discover.

About 1-2 years ago I began to follow some of the reporting from trade media industry experts like Paul Conley who heralded the coming of the new media and decline of opportunity for trade journalists and trade publications in general who were slow to adapt to new business models. While I watched many enterprises come apart, I figured it would never happen to me…after all I am just one guy with great editor and client relationships. How hard could it be to keep busy? If I ever had a lull in work or a space on my calender to fill, it was only a matter of a few e-mails and I had another assignment. My next progression was to start writing books, which I had recently begun.

Early this year my work shut off like a faucet. Almost overnight I went from earning about $400-$600 per day to earning about that much per week…or less. All of my previous clients had no more work, and a couple of magazines even went out of business within months for lack of ad revenue.

Concerned but not intimidated (after all I am a retired marketer and sales guy), I figured I would just go after some new clients. So March-May was a marketing frenzy for me. What I found is exactly as you said – the kind of writing I was doing had become a commodity, and the marketplace had completely changed. Holding to my rates of the last 5 years, I was laughed out of most project quotations, and have taken a few trade witing projects at half the fee I usually get.

At the moment I am working to define that niche you speak of and invent myself to write again. For me, even a bad day working freelance is better than any day in a cubicle, but I am trying to package what I bring to the table and learn to maximize it.

Any advice from the gallery is highly valued.

slr