2018 Freelance Income Report: Q3

It always feels funny to me making these income report posts because here I am making what seems like a paltry amount when I read other blogs bringing in $20,000 a month. I mean, if I did that, I’d be…

Well, I’d be rich. But hey, Olivia is in daycare three days a week, which is when I focus on the bulk of my article writing and that’s me, here, doing my best and living the dream. And quarter three has been awesome.

Spoiler alert: I’m making more money than in Q1 and 2.

Also spoiler alert: Taxes are a bummer.

So let’s go!

Q3 Income Report: Possibly written while binging on Grey’s Anatomy

This quarter saw massive growth in income, confidence and new publications. In August I had my biggest month at over $2,800. In July, I began branching out, sending a massive amount of pitches to over 25 different publications. I was published in seven new places, including two sites in Canada and one in Australia. I got my first byline at a major health publication that I’ve been wanting to break into for a while. I sold two articles for $400 apiece. I pitched Washington Post’s On Parenting section, New York Magazine’s The Cut, Woman’s Health, and Bustle and was rejected by all of them and I am so proud of those rejections. Because I know one day they’ll take my work and I have to just keep bothering them.

I also started sending out letters of inquiry, or LOIs, to various clients, working on breaking into some content writing. I sent out LOIs (sort of “Hello! How are you? I’m an OK writer, so can you hire me to write for your company, kthxbai.”) to some doctor’s websites, fertility sites, and places to manage their social media pages. I was officially hired on at one site, and will be writing articles on fertility and women’s health for their medical clients. I’m in the process for connecting with a fertility client to write, well, fertility articles for their site, and wrote this article for THINX, the makers of those awesome period panties that I will someday own when I’m not broke.

One of the things I’m most proud of is pushing myself to ask for more money with every new editor I work with. I read something a while back that a man will always ask for more money, and a woman hardly ever does. Whether it’s appearing selfish, or feeling inadequate, women just don’t ask for more money. Myself included. I’ve turned down work because it’s not good money, but I was never asking for more. So I started. If an editor offered $100 for an article, I countered with $125. If I was offered $150, I asked for 20% more. When an editor asked for my rates, I bumped it higher than I was comfortable asking for. Sometimes it wasn’t in their budget. Sometimes they laughed at me. OK, no one’s ever laughed at me. That I knew of. But many times, a surprising number of times, I was met with, “Sure, I can do that.” So. Moral of the story. Always ask for more.

The downside to all my new found success (pleeease.): Taxes. Income is increasing and so is the amount I’m stuffing away for taxes. That is all.

Here’s what Q1 and Q2 brought in, as well as for quarter 3.

Quarter 1 breakdown:

Pitches sent: 58

Articles written: 27

Income total: $2,970

Quarter 2 breakdown:

Pitches sent: 68

Articles written: 48

Income total: $5,795

Quarter 3 breakdown:

Pitches sent: 69

Articles written: 47

Income total: $6,599

Total Income: $15,364

I had every intention in September to really scale back in order to spend some time on this blog for the upcoming embryo transfer, but somehow that didn’t happen. And it’s totally my fault, for sending out pitches “just to see” and hey, I’m grateful for the income and for the opportunities, but it’s also been a lot of stress that I was trying to avoid. And my stupidity lives on for the first two weeks in October as I inadvertently found myself with a good amount of articles to write before we fly to Texas. 

So what’s in store for Q4?

I’m hoping to come in at $20,000 for the year. I have my work cut out for me IF I get pregnant and IF I feel like absolute crap like I did while pregnant with Olivia. I’m sitting around $1,000 and 8 articles for October which was more than I intended to take on. But I do want to hit that $20K, so we shall see.