The advice I’ve had is that the even well-known freelance nature writers don’t make a reasonable living from writing articles. So alongside trying to get my nature writing published I’ll be trying out a number of side hustles, focusing particularly on things relating to writing, nature or which just sound intriguing. My expectation is that most of these won’t work out but nothing ventured etc.
In September I tried out the following…
| Hustle | Experience | Verdict |
| Academic proof-reading | I sent my CV to three companies – PRS, GWriters, Oxbridge proof-reading – which were advertising for people with science PhD’s to proof-read research papers. I haven’t heard back from any of them yet | Will have to wait and see. Naively I was amazed at how many companies are clearly advertising for academics to write student essays for them. |
| Upload website | I posted my details and skills on this freelancer website on which you bid for work. I said was interested in proof-reading or creative writing jobs. I have bid once, for a job proof-reading children’s short stories, and waiting to hear back | Once again, lots of students advertising for people to write essays for them. There are jobs which have less ethical issues too so this has some potential. |
| The Dots | This is another noticeboard like site for freelancers but I haven’t quite worked out how to use it yet. | |
| Slice the Pie | This is website where you get paid (at least initially a miniscule amount) to review music tracks. Your payment rate increases if your reviews are rated well by customers. | This is definitely fun but hard to see how I’d actually make reasonable money from it. |
In October I’m going to look for opportunities to write book reviews, starting with the Reedsy website
Freelance Nature Writer 