How to Market Yourself as a Writer: 7 Highly Effective Strategies

Last Updated on May 4, 2024 by Katie

Are you struggling to get your first few writing clients? I know how you feel because I’ve been there! Don’t give up hope just yet. Learn how to market yourself as a writer and things will change.

If you’re new to writing, read how to become a freelance writer with no experience.

With a few effective marketing strategies, you’ll attract an avalanche of your dream writing clients.

As a new writer for hire, marketing yourself is key. You can be the best writer in the world, but if nobody knows about you, it’s unlikely you’ll get work.

A business markets its products and you are the product of your own business. You are your brand and you need to show what you can do.

Let’s take a look at some highly effective strategies to market yourself as a writer.

Read: Is Freelance Writing a Good Career for You?

Table of Contents show

Summary of How to Market Yourself as a Writer

Build a Writing Portfolio
Use Social Media Marketing
Start Your Own Simple Website
Apply for Guest Post Opportunities
Network With Your Dream Clients on LinkedIn
Join Relevant Writer and Blogger Communities
Keep Investing in Your Writing Skills

How to Market Yourself as a Writer and Land High-Paying Writing Jobs

Learning how to market yourself as a writer takes a little trial and error.

Plus, you may lack confidence in the beginning. But know, it does get easier and the more you writer, the more confident you’ll get at selling yourself.

Follow these steps to show off your writing skills.

1. Build Up a Writing Portfolio

Having zero writing samples won’t help when applying for new writing gigs.

Building a professional writing portfolio should be the first thing you do.

A writing portfolio can be a collection of articles you’ve written and kept in a folder.

Alternatively, you can house your writing samples on a blog or on a free content platform like Medium.

If you’ve done paid writing work already, link to these articles where they were published.

As a new writer, don’t just wait for clients, start writing and building up a portfolio. This helps to hone your skills so you’re ready when paid work rolls in.

Here are more free publishing platforms to house your portfolio articles for free:

2. Use Social Media Marketing

When you’re learning how to market yourself as a writer, social media marketing should be high up on your list of things to do.

It’s free for starters and there are tons of potential clients and networking opportunities to take advantage of.

Choose 1 – 2 social media platforms and work on building your community daily. Post relevant content and link to your writing so people can see your skills in action.

Don’t be afraid to reach out to people and make connections.

And make sure you actually have conversations and don’t just immediately ask for work. This is a surefire way to put someone off.

3. Start Your Own Simple Website

Making your own simple website is a great way to market yourself as a writer.

It allows you to show off your work plus tell people a little about you, your achievements and why they should hire you.

On your website, you can even start a blog which is another way to show off your writing prowess. Potential clients will check you out and an active blog is proof you know what you’re doing.

It only costs a few dollars a month for website hosting or you can start for free on a platform like Wix.

Aim to write content around specific keywords to boost your website up the Google rankings and get more eyes on what you do.

4. Apply for Guest Post Opportunities

Guest posting is where you write an article on a popular blog in return for a link to your social media accounts or website.

While you do write for free, guest posting is a fantastic opportunity to get eyes on your work and market yourself.

Many top blogs with huge amounts of traffic accept guest posts. If you get a tiny fraction of their traffic to your social media or website, this helps build your credibility.

To find guest posting opportunities, type into Google: your niche + guest post/write for us or something similar. If you don’t have a niche yet, don’t panic.

Try guest posting for various topics and see which you enjoy the most.

5. Network with Your Dream Clients on LinkedIn

The majority of businesses and brands have a presence on LinkedIn.

This platform is a powerful place to network, meaning you should have a profile as a new writer.

Take some time to create a great LinkedIn bio. Tell people what you can do for them. For example, if you specialise in article writing for lawyer websites, say: I help lawyers get more leads through informative, engaging SEO articles.

Alongside having an awesome bio, LinkedIn is one of the best ways to network with prospective clients.

Be active daily posting your own content and engaging on other people’s content.

You can even write articles on LinkedIn, which is another way to get eyes on your writing.

Read: 9 Cold Pitching Tips for New Writers to Get High Paying Clients

6. Join Relevant Writer and Blogger Communities

Knowing how to market yourself as a writer comes with a little trial and error.

But one thing that always helps is joining forces with other people in the same situation. There are many writing communities on social media and on forums.

To find forums, Google: writing + forum and many top communities will show.

Join and become a helpful member of the community by answering and asking questions.

Once you get to know people, you may get offered paid work.

Twitter and Facebook are places to look for blogger and writing groups or discussions. Join active groups and network with other writers.

Be sure to read the rules of each group. Don’t just go in posting your links everywhere.

Help others, make connections and you may find someone who needs your writing skills.

7. Keep Investing in Your Writing Skills

Great marketing can’t overcome bad writing skills.

As a new writer, you should be writing daily on social media, on your blog or on a free content platform to build up a sample portfolio.

Practice makes perfect and if you want a full-time career as a writer, this takes time and effort.

If you haven’t already, take an online writing course to improve your skills.

Udemy and Skillshare have some great affordable writing courses.

Take a look at these recommended writing courses on Udemy:

The Complete Freelance Writing Course: Beginner to Pro

Writing with Flair: How to Become an Exceptional Writer

The more you improve your writing skills, the more clients you’ll attract and keep happy.

Producing great content also gets you recommendations, which is more marketing for your biz. If you’ve done paid work, don’t be afraid to ask for constructive criticism.

We can all fall into bad habits and other people may be able to spot errors we miss.

Further reading: 11 Content Skills You Need to Make Money Writing

How to Market Yourself as a Writer – FAQs

Which social media platforms are best to promote content?

All social media platforms help to market you and your content.

Focus on one or two at a time and post your content regularly. Don’t be afraid to do this. You need to show your writing skills to help build up your audience.

The platforms I use for content promotion are Pinterest and Twitter. Facebook and Instagram are other great platforms to use.

How do I get guest posting opportunities?

You need to reach out to authority blogs and offer your services as a guest poster.

Do a Google search: your niche + guest post/write for us and many will pop up.

Some bloggers have even written ultimate lists of guest post opportunities you can easily find with another quick search on Google.

Each platform has its own rules regarding guest posting. Make sure you read and adhere to their rules to be considered.

Remember, these big blogs get hundreds of applications a day and won’t reply to those who ignore the rules.

Should I start a blog or write on Medium?

When I started as a freelance writer, I built a simple website. I still have it today and it brings me in enquiries from people who need a writer.

A website is your own piece of digital real estate that markets you and can even be monetized with affiliate marketing and ads.

If you have time and a few spare dollars a month, starting your own blog is well worth it.

Otherwise, writing on Medium is still a great way to market yourself and your writing skills.

Medium has a ready-made audience, waiting to read great content and it’s free to use so a low-cost way to start.

How long does it take to get the first writing client?

This is like asking ‘’how long is a piece of string?’’. There literally is no exact answer.

One person might get a paid writing client after two weeks of searching, another person might take months.

I was in the latter category – it took me three months of emailing 50-100 companies every day to get my first client.

There were times when I wanted to give up. But I’m glad I didn’t now. My advice is to make time EVERY day to apply for writing jobs, send out cold emails and network with people.

If you persevere, you will see success and go on to enjoy an abundant writing career.

Try not to compare your journey to someone else’s. We all come from different backgrounds and starting points.

Don’t make these mistakes: 7 Common Mistakes Writers Make Looking for New Clients

Final Thoughts on How to Market Yourself as a Writer

Learning how to market yourself as a writer pays long-term dividends.

The more people you connect with and the more authoritative you make your brand on social, the increased opportunities you open yourself up to.

Don’t get disheartened if you get zero responses in the beginning. It takes time to build trust and build something great.

When you get experienced at promoting yourself, you’ll start to get rewarded for your efforts.

Your job applications will start to get responses and someone may even recommend you.

Now, go out there and market your writing services!

Further reading: