How To Start A Successful Writing Business

Starting a business of your own can be a great idea if you want to sell products, but you can also start a business for offering services.

There are many writing business ideas you can use for your startup, but before you decide anything, you need to prepare well.

Consider different types of writing, develop your skills, write a business plan, etc. before you can finally launch your writing business. Without further ado, here are the five key tips for starting a successful writing business.

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Pros and Cons of Starting a Writing Business

Before you make the decision to start a writing business, you should first consider all the pros and cons of this kind of company:

PRO: You can start a writing business all on your own or with a very small team of writers and editors.
CON: You might spend a fair amount of time looking for your first clients and it could take you even more time to build your client base.
PRO: You can offer writing services remotely and work from home with clients from all over the world.
CON: You might get lonely if you are always working from home.
PRO: You can have a very flexible schedule and decide which projects you take on and which clients you work with.
CON: You can have periods where you earn more and periods when you don’t earn anything at all.
PRO: You can specialize in one type of writing or offer a wide variety of writing services.
CON: You won’t be able to earn much with some types of writing compared to others.
PRO: You can find challenging and interesting projects regularly and cover new topics so that you never get bored.
CON: You will need to have both writing skills and other skills like organization, discipline, time management, and more.
PRO: You don’t need a big budget to start a writing business of your own.
CON: You might experience a lot of competition both at the start and later on.

Types of Writing and Their Application

Another aspect of a writing business to consider is the type of writing you will specialize in. You can either use writing marketing to promote your company as one that works with all kinds of writing or specializes in a specific selection of types.

Some of the most common types of writing include:

Print Writing – This type involves creating texts for print media such as magazines, journals, newspapers, and so on. You can be writing articles, opinion pieces, and more. It can be difficult to find clients for this type of writing because it has more competition, but it also pays better than other types like web content writing.
Web Content Writing – This type involves writing web content that can range from product listings to guides to blog posts. It can also include writing articles for online magazines and journals.
Technical Writing – This type of writing can include either text that is technical in nature (e.g. manuals) or medical writing.
Copywriting – This is the kind of writing used in marketing and advertising (online or offline). Some examples of copywriting include SEO web copy, billboard ads, sales letters, etc.
Ghostwriting – This isn’t a specific type of writing but rather an approach that can be applied to different types of writing. Essentially, your writing will be credited to someone else which would make you a ghostwriter. You can ghostwrite anything from journal articles to memoirs and cookbooks to speeches.

You can either open a writing business that only offers one or two types of writing or a company that offers a complete range of writing types.

Some types of writing such as copywriting are considered to be more lucrative, so keep that in mind when deciding which types of writing you want to offer in your company.

5 Key Tips for Starting a Successful Writing Business

1. Develop Appropriate Writing Skills

Once you decide which types of writing you want to offer, you will need to develop appropriate writing skills. Of course, this is necessary if you decide to be the one completing the orders you get from your clients instead of having a team of writers and editors.

That being said, even if you won’t be doing any actual writing work, you should still be fairly familiar with what good writing looks like to determine whether your employees are doing a good job.

In case you decide to start a writing business where you are the only employee or where you are a part of the writing team, you will need to spend time developing your skills. If you have some writing experience already, you might not need any additional training.

But if you are new to writing, then you should definitely find some ways you can get relevant professional education.

One of the easiest ways to develop your writing skills is by enrolling in online or offline courses. You can even find some free online courses as well as courses that offer official testing at the end and a certificate to confirm your qualifications.

You can look for courses on dedicated platforms like Coursera and edX. Similarly, look for other resources that you could use to hone your writing skills such as books on writing, blogs where writers explain their routines, and so on.

It is also a good idea to develop your business writing skills that will help you in organizing and manage your writing business successfully.

Business writing is used for documentation, but you might also need it for other official-related purposes. In any case, it will be a valuable skill for you when you first start your writing business and even going forward as it expands over the years.

2. Create a Detailed Business Plan

Next, you will need to create a detailed business plan. Having a business plan will help you ensure that you plan ahead how you will organize your business before you launch it.

You can’t just start a company without knowing what to do with it, so a business plan will give you a straightforward step-by-step outline to follow that you can stray away from time to time. In other words, it will be critical for your writing business.

To create your business plan, you should first analyze the market by looking at your competitors and target audience. Your competitors are other writing businesses similar to yours that are competing with you either on the local or the global scene.

And your target audience is the potential clients that you want to target with your marketing and advertising who could become your customers.

Ask yourself questions that will help you create your business plan and cover every aspect of your writing company:

What kind of writing services will you be offering?
Who are your competitors? How are your services different from theirs?
How much will your services cost? Are these prices competitive?
Who is your target audience? How will you advertise and market yourself to it?
What kind of resources will you need to launch your business?
How big will your team be at launch?
What will your marketing strategy be like at the beginning stages?
What are your vision, mission, and values?

Think through every aspect of your business. For example, you can choose between different types of pricing (i.e. per hour, per piece of content, per word, per page).

Charging per word (or per page) is probably the best route to take because most clients usually have a specific word count in mind.

When setting your prices, make sure that they are competitive by taking into account several factors:

The prices of your competitors.
The prices for a specific type of writing.
The total revenue you want to have per month.
The number of people on your team (that you also have to pay).

Keep in mind that you will likely need to have a safety net during the first few months (or for as long as a year) after launching your business. It will take time for you to find enough clients to have a steady and high income.

You will need to have a full-time or a part-time job for the time being before you can quit it and focus on your writing business entirely.

3. Take Care of Business Documentation

Now, you will need to take care of business documentation. Starting a writing business is just like starting any other business which is why you will need to make sure that you have any relevant documents ready.

One of these is your business plan which you already created, but you will now have to register your business and make it official.

If you already developed your business writing skills, you can take care of all your documentation yourself. On the other hand, if you need professional help, you can hire an experienced writer from the writing services review site Rated by Students.

They will have the knowledge, expertise, and experience necessary to write any official documents you will need to register your business correctly.

4. Set Up the Practical Aspects of Your Business

After registering your writing business, you will need to set up the practical aspects of your company. In other words, this is when you actually start executing your business plan in practice.

Here are some practicalities you need to take care of:

Set Up Your Office – Will you be working from home? Or do you need to find office space? Set up your office in an appropriate environment and get any physical resources you may need.

These can include furniture, stationery, tech, and so on. Make sure that the working environment is comfortable to work in (whether you will be working alone or with a team, from home or in an office).
Purchase Software – In addition to setting up your office and purchasing physical items, you will also need to make some digital purchases. More specifically, you will need to buy relevant software.

This includes software for writing and editing, communication and organization, task and project management, time management and scheduling, accounting, and any other relevant programs or apps.

If you have a tight budget, you can find many free or low-cost alternatives to popular tools and programs. If you will be promoting your business yourself, you will also need software for content and copy creation.
Hire Your Team – You can start a writing business on your own, but if you planned to have a team, then it’s time to hire your employees. Find people in the key roles first before you hire people for any less important and less demanding positions.

If you want to have a small team for the time being, then you should direct your attention to hiring essential professionals. These include one or two writers, an editor, a marketing specialist, and a financial manager. You can hire more people when your business expands enough to require a bigger team.

5. Promote, Network, and Find Your First Clients

Last but not least, finalize the launch of your writing business by starting your promotional cycle, networking, and finding your first clients. It will take you some time to build credibility and establish yourself as a legitimate writing company, but it will be worth it.

The more happy customers you have, the more new customers you can attract who will be more eager to trust you and work with you.

If you have a small budget, you don’t need to hire in-house employees. In fact, you can have a freelance writing team that will be handling your writing orders while you promote your business.

This way, you can save time and money while completing orders on time and delivering consistently high quality to your customers. It’s a great solution for those who are just starting their writing business and don’t have many resources available to them.

To attract clients, launch a PPC ad campaign and promote your business online in different ways. You can also promote your business locally with offline marketing techniques, but you have more chances of finding clients online.

Make sure to target the right audience with your advertising and marketing to convert more customers. In addition to promotional activities, start networking to connect with people in the industry.

Even though you are competitors, you could become partners and benefit from this relationship in the long run.

Conclusion

All in all, opening your writing business can be a bit challenging during the planning and preparation stage, but once you launch and pick up speed, your business will continue growing. Use the tips in this article to help you open your own writing company and start earning money with writing.

Author Bio
Cynthia Young is an academic writer with a wondrous love for business literature and travel. She starts her day reading articles in her favorite business magazines and ends up writing her own. For several years he has been working with a team of writers Top Writing Reviews.

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