How can you build a writing career without a degree?

Remember, there’s a difference between picking an industry and picking a niche. For instance, lots of people write about traveling. But, not many people write about how to travel on a budget by volunteering on organic farms. Don’t just say, “I’m a tech writer.” Say, “I write about AI-powered software platforms in the B2B space.” Find an industry you’re interested in, then dig deeper. Spend time researching and become an expert in that field. You’ll be surprised at how many niches are desperate for writers who actually understand their unique content needs - degree or not.

This step is critical even if you have a degree - it’s what you can produce that counts. Consider a client’s or employer’s needs - not only subject-matter expertise, but also types of communications. Writing something persuasive, such as ghostwriting an op-ed piece, is very different from crafting a consumer-targeted feature article or infographic copy, for example. What do you like, what are you good at, and are there identified market needs that you can fill?

Really?! So MANY people build big careers without degrees. I can't believe this is even a question. You do the work and do it well. Degree or no degree.

It's probably cliche, but just start writing! When I was out of grad school with a Literature degree and deflated academic aspirations, I decided to start a blog. It was something I was able to point to to land a writing internship which turned into a wending career in copywriting / content development / editorial. I agree with some others—it's great to find your niche. It can make you more competitive. But writing is also a way to break out of a bubble, especially if you're looking for a career or industry change. If you're as eager a learner as you are a writer, you may find that your pen leads you into unexpected realms. That, to me, keeps things exciting!

A degree rarely fosters the kind of writing that builds a career. One becomes a better business writer with years of practice. There are no shortcuts. Clear writing is a sign of clear thinking. It takes time, effort, patience and empathy. It’s not enjoyable. If you’re doing it right, it’s a struggle, but one that gets easier over time.

Don't be afraid to say yes to a project that might feel like it's a little bit outside of your wheelhouse. With a little bit of research (and conversations with relevant experts), you'll be a pro in no time. Getting out of your comfort zone is okay — in fact, it's encouraged — and remember that so many of us are learning as we go.

Just launched my website for this very reason. Will be displaying my work and my writing skills on it. Don't say you can write blog articles. Just write them and let potential clients be convinced by your abilities...

Do not share your portfolio in PDFs or PPTs. Show links. If you don't have online writing work to showcase, contribute for free on websites that accept free of cost contributions. Open your personal blog on Wix/Wordpress/Medium and write on topics that interest you. Then paste the links of your blogs/articles in a neatly categorized way in a Google Doc, and then share the link of that doc with your potential clients. This shows you are serious about writing, you are organised, and you are professional.

One of the best lessons I learned was that, contrary to popular belief, building yourself a blog as a starter to building a content library is one of the worst things you can do. When you create a blog you′ll need to attract traffic to it, since nobody is visiting your site other than yourself. But! When you do it on social media, there′s already millions of users going in daily, you′ll just need to make your content attractive and that′s it! Also by doing it on social media means it′s accessible to anyone who′s may be interested, making it easier to grow as a writer.

A portfolio goes a long way. Nobody needs a degree to be a writer, to become a writer, to get published. What you need is proof of value. Proof of talent. Get your name out there. Start writing guest posts, and keep your Medium profile up to speed. Start your own blog. Become a voice authority. Build and invest in your platforms. Share ungated value everywhere your audience spends time. Write for non-profits. Act as a ghostwriter. Put up the work! For media outlets to want your name associated with theirs, you need to have a following. That's your first aim.

Marketing is the most important part of your writing career. The writing part is only 30 percent of the work. You gotta put yourself out there and be okay to sell your book!

Especially for freelancers, getting your name and face out there is critical. Getting work is a constant hustle, and it’s just a fact that editors will tend to hire people they are more familiar with. Networking won’t necessarily guarantee you gigs, but if you don’t market yourself, it will be very difficult to forge a sustainable career. So put yourself out there, and that combination of talent plus personal connections will lead to opportunity.

When it comes to networking, there's one thing I've found to be particularly helpful. Keep a spreadsheet that lists contact info for all of your professional contacts. Cast a wide net, and include people you worked with full-time, people you met during any contract gigs, and people you've worked with on a project-by-project basis. Get specific. Organize the info by name, email and media outlet or company, and make sure to add in any relevant notes about the project you worked on together. Read through the spreadsheet every few months, and reach out to contacts who might be working on projects that would be a good fit for you and your skill set. It's a great way to organically keep in touch with your network and build your portfolio.

Writing is the easy part - getting noticed is the most difficult. I'm an indie writer, nowadays avoiding the time consuming writing to publishers, agents, and anyone else claiming to 'get you a deal'. I use social media, Amazon ads, word of mouth - anything to get noticed! Last week I sold a copy of my new book to a lady I'd never met whilst chatting at a bar. Every sale counts!

Networking has helped me immensely in my career. It gives you the opportunity to come as you are. Bring the writer with you, that persona you put into your LinkedIn posts, articles, and stories, so when people follow you, they recognize you. But what helped me the most in my career is to help others unconditionally, with no strings attached. It paid off long-term, as I still get recommended by people I helped years back. Trust me, keeping value gated will not pay off. But sharing it with the world will open doors for you.

Writing is a craft or a skill. It can be learned with consistent practice. The best way to improve is to write as much as possible. Take every chance you get. This helps in two ways. Firstly, it makes you more fluent and more confident. Secondly, it helps you understand your strengths. This will help you create your own unique style of writing.

some of the best ways to get started are: – read a lot. – get feedback on your writing. – get in a community of other working writers and learn from them; nothing beats actually being in the room with people on the same path as you. – experiment, read, widely, including points of view that are not your own. – And lastly, publish, whether it’s on a blog or social media channel. Nothing beats actually shipping your work.

Read, read and read some more. Read as widely as you can, well outside your comfort zone and certainly outside your chosen field. Then, reverse engineer it. Figure out what makes a piece special, why you connected with it and didn't connect with something else. Follow a handful of great writers more closely than others, and treat their work like your study. Explore sentence structures you don't use often and practice incorporating them. Discover different opening styles and closing styles (magazine profiles are great for this). I studied fashion design and have only ever worked in media, spending the vast majority of my 10 years here as a self-taught writer, and this is what I did. Feedback, practice & time all help, too.

If you want to write, you first have to be a reader. If you want to be a reader, you have to be willing to put in the reps required for reading. On some days, it doesn't actually matter if you write or not. But prioritize to read. It always adds up to your writing. :)

Writing is a skill and one doesn’t need any degree to master it . Just enjoy writing and each day you will find it improving a lot When it comes to blog one needs to master on SEO to rank the article along with your skill in writing. Create a voice in your writing to resonate with your readers To make them enjoy it …

You do not need a degree to write. There are many writing courses to fit all budgets. Write for yourself, Publish for fun, Any sales are a bonus. Don't give up your day job. Grammarly is a good thing to add to your PC. Just enjoy the life of a writer

We need excellent writers in the field of learning design so this might be a great way to diversity your income if you are pursuing a career in writing. For any learning experience we create online in the asynchronous mode we bring our writing skills to the table! The fantastic part about this type of writing is that you get to write about a variety of different subjects, as well as “play” with your writing by incorporating storytelling techniques, make different style and tone decisions, and more. You could consider joining a design team as the writer on the project, working in partnership with a learning/instructional designer, or you could take training in learning design/education yourself and freelance in that role.

In my experience and knowing so many writers, the one thing that will continue to be true no matter what skills you bring to your work, you will need to know your craft. It can be through writing copy, sharing personal stories, and learning by reading and experiencing on an inner level, the content materials shared. Each writer brings a unique experience to their work and the reader will choose what best serves their particular needs at the time.

Avec la montée en puissance de l'auto-édition, les écrivains ont maintenant un accès direct à leur public sans passer par les canaux traditionnels. Cela peut être une source de revenus importante, en particulier si vous avez une niche spécifique ou une base de fans dédiée.

When it comes to writing, there′s a mosaic of ways to generate income, so you shouldn′t limit yourself to a single one. Whether it is copywriting, ghostwriting, content writing, script writing, or dozens of others, once you master your writing skill, you′ll be able to diversify your income and also grow your audience.

I didn't have a degree and when it comes to writing genre fiction, I don't think you need one. I've written 20 books in 10 years, they've all been bestsellers and I'm coming up to 2 million books sold. I've seen so many authors come and go during that time. I've seen authors about to give up, right before they get their big break. Each book is like the lottery. You never know when things will change - for the better or worse! The ability to pick yourself up and keep going is everything. Always strive to improve. Keep learning, keep improving, but most of all, keep an optimistic mindset and don't give up.

I started to write with intention when I was 15. In October/November of 1998, José Saramago won the Nobel Prize in Literature and open the door to this teenager who dreamed out loud: "One day I will be a writer and I'll make a living out of it". It took me 21 years to get there. And back then, there was no help for me. I just had to figure it out all by myself. So, mark my words: don't give up! Never! Your future is waiting for you to write it down. Go!

Improving ones writing skills primarily comes through the act of writing itself. Dedication and resilience are allies on the path of becoming a better writer. In the face of rejection,don't lose heart it's part of the journey. Prioritize self development and one should consider the value of online courses as well as studying the works of expert you admire within your chosen niche.

Writing is your birthright as a human being. You don't need a degree. You don't need permission. I think Steven Pressfield (the author of War of Art and Turning Pro) is right. Resistance is the enemy; and resistance is usually internal. Unless I do battle with resistance, I will not be a professional writer. So degree or not degree, job or no job, time or not time...I will not grow as a writer unless I write.

One thing I've learned is simple: Just keep writing and learning. Each will create the need and audience for the other. Rejection teaches you what to do and what not to do, how to express yourself and your ideas. Readers will get a sense of who you are through the words you choose. And, those words will resonate over and over again to the reader. Only, if you trust yourself enough to continue the work. Sometimes you'll get paid and there will be times you won't. The important issue is what you've learned and how you can create the mood and relaibility of what you're presenting through the words you use.

Best advice I ever got to become a better writer: Read voraciously, particularly publications and the work of writers you admire. It's not to copy their style, but to become exposed to brilliant writing. I'm still reading and I know I still have a lot to learn.

Here are the steps: 1. Write. Whatever you like to - motivational stuff, poetry, fiction, one-liners - anything. Wherever you wish to - LinkedIn, Twitter, your own website, handwritten in notebook - anywhere. 2. Write consistently, if not daily. Preferably daily. Even if it is 5 or 15 or 50 minutes per writing session. 3. Get a little better over time. 1% improvement every single day. 4. Rinse and repeat.

A successful writing career takes more skills than just writing. You absolutely must approach it like a business and allot yourself enough time to handle all the peripheral tasks, such as finding new gigs, promoting yourself on social media, or maintaining your website. And like any business, writing will take investment. Don't get caught off guard--budget and save for your tools, including conference/webinar fees and networking services (e.g., email list services). Do everything you can to keep control and ownership of your content. Put time into people, too, because unfortunately, it's often the connections you have that get you in the door rather than the quality of your drafts or ideas.

The only thing a degree will teach you is how to make large financial mistakes early in life. If you want to write, then you must write. Constantly. And you must also read. Constantly. Work for your local newspaper for free for a few months. See what you enjoy the most. For me it was film and book reviews. But it could just as well have been technology, sport, politics or daily news. If you don’t want to be a journalist work for free as an intern at a content or ad agency for a few months. If you want to be a successful author, you will need to dedicate at least three to five years to it and develop a brass neck that can handle rejection. Remember, there is little financial reward for the average fiction writer. Just write.

becoming a good writer requires extensive reading. It’s impossible to write well if you don’t immerse yourself in books. Reading not only improves your vocabulary and understanding of language, but it also exposes you to various writing styles and ideas. Start by reading books on topic you love.Additionally, reading widely across different genres and subjects can broaden your perspective and inspire creativity in your writing. Remember, practice is key—write regularly, seek feedback, and continuously learn from others. Many renowned authors, such as J.K. Rowling and Ray Bradbury, have proven that passion and persistence can lead to a successful writing career, even without a formal degree.