✍️ Why the Top Freelance Writers Treat Their Craft Like an Art — Not Just a Job

What Copenhagen’s artists reminded me about honoring craft over chaos.

This week, I’m writing to you from a sunny corner of Copenhagen, still glowing from rhubarb candy and long walks along the canals.

In between client calls and prepping for this week’s writer’s retreat in Tuscany, I’ve been exploring the city’s quieter magic — from wandering abandoned island forts on a boat tour to taste-testing my way through endless plates of smørrebrød (open-faced sandwiches that are practically an art form here).

Copenhagen has been a reminder that when you build a writing life with intention, you can blend work and wonder in the same day — and today’s newsletter dives into how treating freelance writing like a craft (not just a hustle) is the key to making that dream sustainable.

Also, a quick announcement before we dive in:

❗️I’ve just dropped the price for all of my e-books to $0.99, and slashed the print copies to the lowest Amazon will allow — while still keeping expanded distribution to libraries, universities, and more. And if you have a Kindle Unlimited subscription, you can read them all for free!

❓Why? Easy: I want to make my books accessible to you, especially Six-Figure Freelance Writer which is my “how-to” book on freelancing.

I get emails all the time from writers who, after reading the book, have doubled (or even tripled!) their rates, landed better clients, and have found a happier, more balanced writing career in the process. I’d love for you to be next.

Enjoy!

In today’s newsletter, you’ll read about:

✨ What handmade candy, abandoned forts, and smørrebrød taught me about freelance writing

✍️ Writing jobs you may have missed last week

📚 Hollywood will be a ghost town in 5 years — and more links to make you smarter and more in-tune with the world

✍️ Missed This Past Week’s Writing Jobs?

Did you miss it? Here are the writing jobs on this past week’s job board:

• A global tech giant is hiring a creative director to lead writing across high-profile campaigns — $137–$174/hour

• A luxury culture publication is paying $800–$2,000 for bold, stylish stories on community, commerce, and art

• A leading beauty brand is offering $44.50/hour for a copywriter to shape sleek, cross-platform marketing campaigns

If you missed the last issue of my writing job board, check it out at the link below:

📖 Writing, Travel, & Lifestyle Links

To make you smarter and more cultured.

🎬 Hollywood Will Be a Ghost Town in Five Years. This piece by

Ted Gioia

is under a paywall but worth the subscription. It echoes sentiments I’ve been sharing since 2021 on my blog about how Hollywood is crumbling and being replaced by the Creator Economy — but Ted’s got some great new data to back it up.

📚 “Good writing isn’t enough.” Did you miss this week’s GuestStack interview with Dr. Hanne Blank Boyd? She runs a Bestselling Publication here on Substack, and is part of the community here on From the Desk of Amy Suto: Make Writing Your Job. She had some great nuggets of wisdom — and is running a great series about how to do research for writers.

🙌 Choosing my rooms wisely by

Sophia Amoruso

. I’m really enjoying reading Sophia’s round-ups on trends, brands, and travel. She recently left the US to live in London, and I think she has some smart perspectives on the world.

🫖 Sunday Tea: Why the Top Freelance Writers Treat Their Craft Like an Art — Not Just a Job

This week’s thoughts.

This week, my “office” had a slight upgrade: sunshine-filled cobblestone streets, the smell of fresh-baked cardamom buns, and an impromptu boat tour through the canals of Copenhagen.

In between client calls and working on some writing projects (hello, Tuscany retreat prep!), I wandered into Studio Arhøj — a vibrant little shop where the artists weren’t hidden away in some back room. Nope. They were right there, behind the shelves, spinning clay on pottery wheels and blowing molten glass into whimsical shapes. Tiny glass fried eggs smiled at me from tables lined with pastel mugs. The entire shop felt alive with craft, in that uniquely Danish way — colorful, joyful, and quietly meticulous.

Watching the potters work wasn’t just charming — it was a reminder.

Freelancing is a craft, not a race.

In Copenhagen, craftsmanship isn’t a buzzword. It’s baked into the DNA of the culture: a love of good design, a reverence for cozy moments (they even have a word for it — hygge — that means something like creating warmth, comfort, and connection). Here, people will happily invest in a $3,000 statement chair, not to show off, but because it’s beautifully made. It’s about honoring the process, not just the product.

And it made me think: how often do we, as freelancers, forget that?

It’s so easy to slip into the transactional mindset — churning out words, sending invoices, measuring success by speed alone. But the best freelancers I know, the ones building sustainable six- and seven-figure careers, see their work differently.

They see their writing as an art form, not just a transaction.

Even when the work is client-driven — ghostwriting a memoir, crafting website copy, editing a mountain of Substack posts — there’s an artistry to it if you choose to see it. Pride in shaping a life story clearly. Attention to the emotional texture of a founder’s about page. Respect for the invisible structures that turn a messy manuscript into a coherent book.

As a memoir ghostwriter, I think about this every day. My clients are trusting me with something incredibly precious: their life stories. Their legacies. It’s not just a document I’m delivering — it’s a translation of who they are. I approach every project like I’m molding clay, folding the narrative carefully, patiently, lovingly.

And that care, that craft, is part of why clients appreciate the finished product I make for them. Why they refer friends. Why they trust me to help shape the stories they can’t quite tell on their own. Craft matters. Without it? You don’t have a writing business to begin with.

Another place that hit me hard on this trip? A tiny handmade candy shop called Sømods Bolcher, tucked away in the city center. They’ve been making hard candies by hand since 1891, and on my food tour, I got to watch them work. Heated sugar folded over itself, flavors layered in by hand, the whole mixture stretched and pulled until it transformed into the rhubarb-flavored sweets I happily popped into my mouth minutes later. Craft so good it makes your taste buds sing.

Whether you’re writing blogs, ghostwriting memoirs, or building a Substack empire, treat your work like the artisans of Copenhagen treat their crafts: with reverence, with joy, and with a sense of pride.

Success isn’t about how fast you can ship something off. It’s about building a career (and a reputation) that feels as solid — and as satisfying — as a perfectly spun clay mug or a rhubarb candy you can’t forget.

And trust me: when you honor the work, the work honors you right back.

💫 Amy’s Favorites: Beauty of Joseon Sunscreen

Not sponsored. Just my faves.

For the past three years, I’ve been obsessed with the Beauty of Joseon Rice and Probiotics sunscreen. It’s glowy, non-greasy, and it kept my skin protected — even after a three-hour sunny boat ride here in Copenhagen.

It might take your skin a week or so to adjust, but once it does, I’ve found it’s the only sunscreen that makes my face feel glowy and fresh — something I can’t say about most U.S. brands. When I was in Korea last year, I stocked up and bought six bottles to cart around during my travels. I also grabbed their sunscreen stick, which is a much less greasy (and far better-smelling) alternative to the usual milky American sunscreens.

Buyer beware, though: there are a ton of fake Beauty of Joseon products floating around on Amazon.

Make sure you buy from an authorized retailer. I like Senti Senti (they’re sold out online right now, but they have an in-person shop in Chinatown, Manhattan) or one of the stores in the Japantown Center in San Francisco. I also spotted the real thing here in Copenhagen at Normal (their very cute version of a drugstore!).

Enjoyed today’s post? Please give it a “heart” ❤️ and share or restack it.

Sending creativity and good writing vibes your way,

-Amy