✍️ Why There Are No Full-Time Jobs on the Writing Job Board
Why freelance work reigns supreme if you want to build the writing life of your dreams.
Is anyone going to be in Copenhagen from 4/21-4/27? If so, would love to meet up and talk all things writing over a pastry (I’ve heard bakeries in Copenhagen are on another level.) I’ll also be in Florence, Italy for 4/27-4/30 before heading to the countryside for a writer’s retreat.
Being able to travel freely is one of the benefits of being a freelance writer — or, someone with a “portfolio career” a term popularized on here by Anna Mackenzie.
Because I work for myself, I can spend 2.5 weeks in Europe on a whim. No employer would be cool with me saying, “hey! I’m going to go eat pastries in Copenhagen while outlining my next book project at cute cafes, and then I’ll go wild swimming in the Italian countryside with a bunch of writers while we do yoga and make new friends over creativity workshops. But I’ll be back in the office soon!”
But because I work on a freelance basis and have a flexible schedule with long-term projects, I have full autonomy over my schedule and when (and where!) I work.
If that doesn’t convince you to ditch full-time work for the freelance or “portfolio career” life — I’ve got some more for you after the jump :)
In today’s newsletter, you’ll read about:
✨ Why freelance > full-time
✍️ Writing jobs you may have missed last week
📚 Writing Community Wins: cool community victories this week!
✍️ Missed This Past Week’s Writing Jobs?
Did you miss it? Here are the writing jobs on this past week’s job board:
An audio company is hiring a fantasy writer for creative writing work
A real estate company is hiring a freelance writer at $2,500-$3,000/month
A web comic company is hiring a freelance sensitivity reader
If you missed the last issue of my writing job board, check it out at the link below:
🚨 Also, last call to apply for this week’s featured job for a memoir ghostwriter:
✍️ Featured Job: Freelance Memoir Ghostwriter
A client came in looking for a freelance memoir ghostwriter to help tell her and her mother’s story. Her budget is $10,000-$15,000 and she’s open to writers of all skill levels.
🙌 Writing Community Wins!
Here’s what some of your fellow writers in the community have been up to lately:
Kristin Fellows turned down the opportunity to consult with a former client, letting him know she was writing full-time — and to her surprise, he became an annual paid supporter for her Substack! Good things happen when you make the leap to follow your passion, it turns out :)
Katherine’s new self-published book has quickly become one of her bestselling books — get Unravel Me: A Small Town Romance here on Amazon!
Amanda N just hit 100 subscribers on her new Substack, Don’t Forget to Write! Amanda writes about how to stay consistent with writing when life gets busy, particularly for moonlighters.
Ari B just started sharing her fiction on Substack.
Congrats, everyone!
❓ Want to see your community wins featured in an upcoming newsletter? Every week in my subscriber chat I ask for what amazing feats you’ve achieved that week, and I pick a handful to highlight.
Access the subscriber chat and share your writing wins and links to your books and/or Substacks below:
🫖 Sunday Tea: Why There Are No Full-Time Jobs on the Writing Job Board
When I first entered the “working world” post-college, I experienced all of the realities of “office culture”:
Pencil skirts. Office drama (and secret romances). Fluorescent lights that give you skin cancer. Grueling 8am-8pm hours, with after-work networking events and stress dreams about forgetting something on your to-do list. A commute so long I jammed through 64-hour-long audiobooks in rapid succession.
Yeah, no thanks.
I’ve been a full-time freelancer for the past ~5-ish years, yet I still gulp down midday fresh air and sunlight like I’m on life support. I see all the paths that I *could* have taken that would have led me back into an office, and I’m grateful that instead of attending staff meetings, I’m planning which Copenhagen cafes I want to write at.
There are some things I have slipped into taking for granted (my 5-minute commute from my bed to my home office, being able to wake up whenever I want, casually traveling the world full-time for the past 4 years before finally deciding to settle down in a city of my choosing — not because of a job) but it still hits me on a regular basis how lucky I am to be making a very comfortable living in an expensive city doing what I love: writing.
The reason why there are no full-time jobs on my curated writing job board is because I don’t believe any form of full-time work can give you the upside and benefits of freelancing.
This is the basis of my philosophy that I shared in my book Six-Figure Freelance Writer, where I outlined how to build a freelancing career in a way that’s profitable and rewarding — and how to avoid common pitfalls like burnout or not charging enough.
Part of being a freelance writer is the fact that you have multiple clients. This naturally creates multiple streams of income, helping to diversify where your money comes from each month. If you lose one client, there’s another one waiting to take their spot (if you build your career correctly!)
If you want to pare down on client work to go write a novel (like I did last year!) then you don’t have to ask permission from a boss. You can just do it.
That’s the secret freedom of freelancing. You want it? It’s yours. You just have to be willing to put in the work and learn along the way.
There are other elements of your life and career that have to shift, of course. You have to learn how to manage your own time (I like using tools like the Toggl browser app to see a weekly breakdown of how I’m spending my work and writing time) and you have to set aside a chunk of your income for things like health insurance and paid leave for yourself.
But that’s all doable. Freelancers and business owners figure this stuff out all the time — and I do my best to pull back the curtain on how to do this for yourself.
Because no full-time writing job will ever pay you $50,000+ per month. But in freelancing? This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what’s possible.
If you’re curious and want to dig deeper, I’ll be starting a new series called ClassStack here on the Substack! It will include live Zoom classes on a monthly-ish basis. It’s included in your $8/month or $80/year paid subscription, and the first session will be about how to build your writing portfolio to land high-paying freelance work. See you in class!
💫 Amy’s Favorites: Tart Cherry Juice
Not sponsored. Just my faves.
Recently, I’ve been drinking 1/2 cup of tart cherry juice a few hours before bed.
Tart cherry juice is a natural source of melatonin and tryptophan, which helps you fall (and stay!) asleep.
If the cherry juice is a bit *too* tart for you, you can try mixing it with sparkling water and a slice of lime for a sleepy mocktail.
Enjoyed today’s post? Please give it a “heart” ❤️ and share or restack it.
Sending creativity and good writing vibes your way,
-Amy
Darn, I’d love to meet up in Denmark! I’m half Danish and can tell you the bakeries are the best known the world. Even just the smell of them as you’re walking down the street…🇩🇰
no way, im going to CPH april 24-27! I'm so excited