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The Freelance Writer's Handbook
Now in a fully updated third edition, The Freelance Writer's Handbook is the essential book for everyone who dreams of making money from their writing. It will appeal to all aspiring writers, whether they want to write as a full time profession, or simply to supplement their existing income through writing. This inspiring guide will also benefit professional writers and journalists who want ideas on how to find new markets for their work. Helps you to decide what to write and how to sell it· Packed with advice on ghostwriting, travel writing, fiction, short stories, television and radio scripts, newspaper and magazine journalism. Includes valuable information on agents, making contacts, interviewing skills, potential markets, how to get commissioned, and much more. Covers the latest developments in web writing, blogging, and online publishing.
232 pages, Paperback
First published July 25, 2002
4 people are currently reading
50 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Crofts
16 books42 followersAndrew Crofts is an author and ghostwriter. He has published more than 80 books, around a dozen of which have been number one bestsellers.
His name first became known amongst publishers for the stories he brought them by the otherwise disenfranchised. Travelling all over the world he worked with victims of enforced marriages in North Africa and the Middle East, sex workers in the Far East, orphans in war-torn areas like Croatia and dictatorships like Romania, and abused children everywhere.
The enormous success of these books brought many very different people to his door; first came the celebrities from the worlds of film, music, television and sport, and then the real elite in the form of world leaders and the mysterious, powerful people who finance them, arm them and, in some cases, control them.
Invited to pubic and private palaces all over Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East and tax havens from Monaco to private islands in Bermuda, Andrew listened as they revealed their secrets, gradually piecing together the truth of who really runs the world and how they do it.
The opening lines in Robert Harris’s thriller "The Ghost", (later made into a film with Ewan McGregor as the ghostwriter)' quote Andrew from his book, "Ghostwriting";
“Of all the advantages ghosting offers, one of the greatest must be the opportunity that you get to meet people of interest.”
His name first became known amongst publishers for the stories he brought them by the otherwise disenfranchised. Travelling all over the world he worked with victims of enforced marriages in North Africa and the Middle East, sex workers in the Far East, orphans in war-torn areas like Croatia and dictatorships like Romania, and abused children everywhere.
The enormous success of these books brought many very different people to his door; first came the celebrities from the worlds of film, music, television and sport, and then the real elite in the form of world leaders and the mysterious, powerful people who finance them, arm them and, in some cases, control them.
Invited to pubic and private palaces all over Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East and tax havens from Monaco to private islands in Bermuda, Andrew listened as they revealed their secrets, gradually piecing together the truth of who really runs the world and how they do it.
The opening lines in Robert Harris’s thriller "The Ghost", (later made into a film with Ewan McGregor as the ghostwriter)' quote Andrew from his book, "Ghostwriting";
“Of all the advantages ghosting offers, one of the greatest must be the opportunity that you get to meet people of interest.”
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 26, 2016
Andrew Crofts makes for a likeable guide through the world of writing for a living, but honestly this book is so broad as to be meaningless. Selling a novel is a completely different ball game to writing business copy, which is world away from being a TV writer. How can a book informatively cover all of it? Hint: it can't.
Also, although I got the 2007 edition of this book (which makes some vague attempts to tell you that self-publishing is... like... a thing... that you might... do?), it's still painfully out of date. It's hard to conceive of a freelance writing career now without using words like "content" (ugh) and "clickbait". The closest Crofts gets is in mentioning blogs. Sorry, to use his term: "computer blogs".
(Let's be real, it was worth the 80p it cost me to reserve this at the library just for that phrase. ~*cOmpUter blOgs*~)
If you want a very broad overview of writing for a living, then sure, have a thumb through this book. If you want concrete advice, you'd be better off going and looking at some of those computer blogs.
Also, although I got the 2007 edition of this book (which makes some vague attempts to tell you that self-publishing is... like... a thing... that you might... do?), it's still painfully out of date. It's hard to conceive of a freelance writing career now without using words like "content" (ugh) and "clickbait". The closest Crofts gets is in mentioning blogs. Sorry, to use his term: "computer blogs".
(Let's be real, it was worth the 80p it cost me to reserve this at the library just for that phrase. ~*cOmpUter blOgs*~)
If you want a very broad overview of writing for a living, then sure, have a thumb through this book. If you want concrete advice, you'd be better off going and looking at some of those computer blogs.
December 7, 2011
I started reading this book whilst studying the non-fiction part of my Writer's Bureau coursework, then when I changed over to the fiction part I stopped reading it - hence it's taken me nearly all year to finish it!
It is a very useful book, and it will remain on my bookshelf for reference, and maybe even one day a re-read. It gives you a good perspective on all angles of freelance writing. For me the end of this book gave me more hope than at the beginning. (I think I found the whole idea of becoming a freelance writer daunting). It talks of not making money initially, it being a slow process, but you get there in the end, verifying something a friend said to me about increasing your 'back catalogue'.
Although it does talk about the 'riches' of writing, it keeps you down on earth at how hard it is to make it.
For me, I would very much like to make a small living from writing, with what time I have due to having two young children, and then, as the kids leave the nest, hopefully I will have built up enough of a career it will carry me forward as my full time job - so I need not work for anyone in a dead end job ever again!
This is the dream. I'm hoping Andrew Crofts advice helps me live it.
It really does emphasis that non-fiction articles/features etc. are the way to make the bread and butter whilst you work on your novel in the background. I really am going to have to organise myself better... in 2012 now.
It is a very useful book, and it will remain on my bookshelf for reference, and maybe even one day a re-read. It gives you a good perspective on all angles of freelance writing. For me the end of this book gave me more hope than at the beginning. (I think I found the whole idea of becoming a freelance writer daunting). It talks of not making money initially, it being a slow process, but you get there in the end, verifying something a friend said to me about increasing your 'back catalogue'.
Although it does talk about the 'riches' of writing, it keeps you down on earth at how hard it is to make it.
For me, I would very much like to make a small living from writing, with what time I have due to having two young children, and then, as the kids leave the nest, hopefully I will have built up enough of a career it will carry me forward as my full time job - so I need not work for anyone in a dead end job ever again!
This is the dream. I'm hoping Andrew Crofts advice helps me live it.
It really does emphasis that non-fiction articles/features etc. are the way to make the bread and butter whilst you work on your novel in the background. I really am going to have to organise myself better... in 2012 now.
December 1, 2014
I like that the author tackles every aspect of what it takes to be a writer in every form of media and genre. Whether it's newspapers, magazines, non-fiction, fiction, travel, business, children, film, television & radio, internet, self-publishing. Also included is how to take care of your money as a writer. Highly recommended for aspiring writers.
December 16, 2009
Packed with advice and written in an upbeat conversational tone, I really enjoyed this book.
July 4, 2024
Genuinely helpful up to a point - Andrew Croft has been mind-bogglingly successful in so many areas of written media and it is definitely worth reading a copy of this to motivate and inspire you before you get started. It covers an enormous quantity of areas, from ghost-writing and self-publishing, to print journalism and even tax advice for the self-employed, in an accessible way.
However, the phrase 'floppy disk' was used eight times and 'social media' was used once. Several reprints have not helped to un-age this book, originally published in the 90s and again in 2002, reprinted in 2009, 2012 and 2013. It feels old. More modern books are probably out there, and they would be the ones I'd suggest actually annotating and taking notes from, but this is a good place to start.
Lost two stars for incessant going on about floppy disks, and for two editorial errors I spotted that apparently over 20 years of editors didn't.
However, the phrase 'floppy disk' was used eight times and 'social media' was used once. Several reprints have not helped to un-age this book, originally published in the 90s and again in 2002, reprinted in 2009, 2012 and 2013. It feels old. More modern books are probably out there, and they would be the ones I'd suggest actually annotating and taking notes from, but this is a good place to start.
Lost two stars for incessant going on about floppy disks, and for two editorial errors I spotted that apparently over 20 years of editors didn't.
August 27, 2018
Quick and easy guide to how to make money from your writing. Covers pretty much any kind of thing you could publish including articles, films, novels, newsoaoer/magazine pieces, non-fiction books etc.
Although the book was written a quarter of a century ago and updated a couple of decades back, the principles still apply. The only things that sound dated are references to computers (floppy disks!) and the internet (something for the future).
I enjoyed reading this and although I didn't really learn too much due having worked with these things for a while, it's still a worthy book to read.
Although the book was written a quarter of a century ago and updated a couple of decades back, the principles still apply. The only things that sound dated are references to computers (floppy disks!) and the internet (something for the future).
I enjoyed reading this and although I didn't really learn too much due having worked with these things for a while, it's still a worthy book to read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews