-By Kevin Soini

Writers have a reputation for going after any contract they can, regardless of qualifications.

Here’s how I see that: It’s ok to go after a contract you’re not qualified for by your background, but make sure it’s something that in some way interests you. Don’t take jobs that you totally can’t relate to. Not only is it unlikely for you to get this job, but it’s not fair to yourself to get into something that’s really not your cup of tea. It wouldn’t be anymore satisfying than sitting in school listening to lectures, and nobody wants to do that, right?

As with everything, the cliché “do what you love and the money will follow,” holds true here.

As for what you’re qualified for, you’re probably qualified to do a lot more than society’s norms allow, but you will find gigs that require more experience or education than you have. If it’s something that you’re really interested in doing, I encourage you to find out how firm the qualifications are, or else find a job like it asking for fewer qualifiers.

If you’re an un-established writer, like myself, it’s often frustrating to find work. Sometimes it seems like there is none. But there is work in this industry, there always has been and always will be. The fact that your reading this is proof! Search online for freelance writing and you’ll find plenty of directories for gigs. There are also many books to help you such as The Well Fed Writer, How to Start a Homebased Writing Business, and The Writer’s Digest Handbook of Making Money Freelance Writing, (does that title sound as grammatically incorrect to you as it does to me?) just to name a few off the top of my head.

Though I’m not advising you to quit your day job to write full-time, I don’t see why one shouldn’t do so. And I still think you can afford to be fairly selective with what you write. You’ll never have to dog your way through work you hate, again. Instead, you can look forward to writing, because there is literally a writing market for every interest and subject. And it’s not hard, depending on how much energy you put into it, to find clients.

There’s only one principle I live by in this business: Write everything down every time you get any kind of idea, even when it’s not an idea for your writing. By doing so myself, I’m able to make small flashes into big pieces, like this article for instance, which started as a figment of an idea. I keep a computer file of such impulses, in addition to having a pocket notebook to jot things down in. I suggest the same for you.

If you do this, you will no doubt end up accomplishing more than you expected and will soon have something long enough to publish.

Good luck. Cheers to us, we’re on the same team.

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Kevin Soini is a self-employed business writer, who writes for the literary market in his spare time. You may reach him by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .