I know people say freelance work always fluctuates between feast and famine – but I’ve been very lucky in my three years of freelancing that I’ve rarely had either a dry patch or so much work that it’s overwhelming (though both have happened).

What I struggle with is that I rarely know when and where my next project is going to come from and it’s impossible to predict or reliably generate work.

So, I thought I’d track back through all my paid editing clients and analyse how they’ve come across me.

In 2021, I had 84 individual clients – and only one came from somewhere other than job postings on Upwork. And that was my first! She was a referral from a fellow writer, someone in that friend’s writing group who was looking for an editor. And that was what started me on this whole freelancing journey in the first place, so an important one!

In 2022, I had 45 individual new clients (so not counting repeat clients) – and four came from somewhere other than Upwork. Two were referrals from another editor I met on a reading retreat (she refers all her nonfiction queries to me, which is awesome), one was someone I met through Urban Writers Retreat, and one was my old employer at my last office job.

In 2023, I had 56 individual new clients – and eight came from somewhere other than Upwork. One was someone I follow on YouTube, four came from Urban Writers Retreat contacts, one was a referral from my editor friend, one just searched for an editor on Google and found me(!), and one came through one of the Slack communities of editors I joined towards the end of the year.

In 2024, I’ve had 20 individual new clients so far – and seven have come from somewhere other than Upwork. One was from a cold email I sent to a publisher, three came from Slack communities, one was from Urban Writers Retreats, one came from a post I did for Get Your Words Out, and one was a referral from a friend unconnected to writing/editing.

So, Upwork is obviously still where the majority of my work comes from (though, satisfyingly, it’s increasingly repeat rather than new clients), though my clients found through other sources are growing in number, which is reassuring, since I don’t like having to rely on one place so heavily for work.

And it seems that networking is the key! Most of my non-Upwork clients have come about because of referrals from friends or other editors, or they’re other writers I’ve met on retreat or in writing groups, or they’re actually other editors I’ve connected with in online communities.

So, while it’s impossible to generate work specifically or reliably via any other source than Upwork (and that’s still quite hit or miss), generally connecting with other writers and editors, online and in person, and contributing to communities that centre around writing, has certainly proven to be an excellent source of work, however intermittently.

There’s work out there! It’s just a case of being present, talking to people (I was at a co-working event yesterday and one of the other attendees is writing a travel memoir and may want my editing services in the future), and being genuinely interested in connecting and exchanging experiences.

 

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