The evolution of freelancing

Reflections on twenty years of change

Last week I offered a taste of some of the upsides of the freedom of freelance life, and today I thought it would be useful to reflect on the changes to freelancing over 20 years. I started freelance writing after being laid off from my first job as online editor at my dream magazine. In retrospect, it may have been better to continue my mentorship in other workplaces, but at age 25 I was shocked (and mad, let's be honest) that my job could just be ended so abruptly. I was also curious about the freewheeling lifestyle of the freelancers who seemed to waltz in and out of the magazine office and do what I wanted to do all day: write.

As I got into freelancing, I really grooved with ultimate freedom that this lifestyle offers, to pick my hours, my assignments, my clients. All that is what has kept me here in my home office for so long. I reflect even further on my journey and what I've learned from it in my book-in-progress - you'll be the first to know when it's published.

In the meantime, here are some thoughts about how freelancing in general and writing in particular have changed over the years:

Technology changes everything

Freelancing and even writing have no monopoly on this area: it's been the biggest change for the whole world. In 2001, my job as online editor was an entry level position at my magazine. So it’s been fascinating to witness the industry change over the years to the point where some publications have gone digital first or even cut their print editions. The technical changes have also been fascinating. I got my online editor job in part because I had taught myself HTML in notepad, which I then traded up to Dreamweaver. Today, WordPress and other platforms has made it truly possible to work as an online editor, now much higher up the masthead, without any of this knowledge.

And yet, today you can be expert in a whole new crop of things - social media platforms have changed both the editorial world and the interactions. Gone are the days when the letter to the editor page was the only point of engagement. Starting to sound like a crank here, so maybe I'll leave a deeper dive into tech changes for its own newsletter post later on and move on to other topics.

The upside of expanded content opportunities (and the downside of lower pay)

Along with technology, the amount of text out there has exploded. From blog posts to social updates to the fact that everyone is texting rather than talking. There is much opportunity for writers. Unfortunately, there are also many opportunities to be badly paid. Magazine pay rates have declined, and web rates unfortunately became entrenched as a reason to pay less, even though the creative effort to create a piece online is not less than in print.

I've seen content mills rise and fall, same with cheap freelance services (ahem, elance, ahem) and the phrase "work for exposure" bandied about to the point of ridicule. Newspapers and magazines were way too slow to pivot and find new revenue streams to replace print advertising, and they're still trying to figure it out. Meanwhile, we've let our readers become accustomed to not paying for things. No, I don't have the answers and I don't think it's an easy fix.

Work from home rules

This has been a recent change for most, but we freelancers have been working from home for a while and it’s been possible for my whole career, although it has improved with faster WiFi speeds and the rise of platforms like Zoom. Freelancers older than me tell of a time when a lot more time had to be spent in libraries and doing book research, so I'm grateful for the internet, videoconferencing, AI transcription (that’s not a WFH thing, just a general lifesaver) and all of the other elements that have made my life easier. I'm also glad for the pandemic mindset shift we've seen in terms of normalizing working from home and virtual teams. Let's hope that one continues.

This reflection may need a second volume....