Your browser is unsupported

We recommend using the latest version of IE11, Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari.

How to Get Started in Freelance Writing

"The first essay I ever published online, "Coding ‘White Trash’ in Academia," was a rant I drafted in a few hours — about how my rural, small-town origins often left me feeling out of place in academic circles. I wasn’t thinking about publishing it. I saved it on my computer and forgot about it for months.

Then a friend mentioned that an online magazine was looking for submissions. I sent in my draft and it ended up being the first of many things I would write during graduate school for readers beyond my field. I wasn’t paid for that post. But in the five years since, I’ve gone from drafting tiny one-off articles for up-and-coming websites to writing longer, more substantive pieces in national magazines — and getting paid for it."

For the full article, visit https://www.chronicle.com/article/how-to-get-started-in-freelance-writing/

Holly Genovese is a graduate student in American studies at the University of Texas at Austin, and a freelance writer and blogger.