If there is one rule of
freelancing, it ought to be ‘never tell anyone, other than your
accountant, what you do for a living’. On the occasions when I’m
unwise enough to own up to what I do with my life, I’m frequently told
that my questioner would be a freelance writer if only … Mostly, I learn
that I’m very lucky to be able to have so much time to myself and do
something I really like, which is slightly frustrating when you’ve no
work on the horizon and the cat’s refusing to eat cheap cat food. The
realities of freelance life are very far removed from the glamorous
picture so many people have of it.
Whether Andrew Crofts entirely dispels these illusions,
I’m not sure. As he rightly observes in the introduction to his book, a
freelance is anyone who sells their work to others on an ad hoc basis,
which could be a Hollywood scriptwriter or a regular columnist in the
local paper. But while the life of a script riter in La-la Land
might sound very enticing, the principles of the freelance life are pretty
much the same as for those working on the dining-room table while the
house is empty, and more of us are likely to be doing the latter. Nevertheless,
we all need dreams to keep us going, and what Crofts is offering are
possibilities.
Crofts is honest enough not to hard-sell us the
Hollywood dream though he writes in balmier days when there was more
freelance work available. And yet, even in a shrinking magazine market,
there is still freelance work to be had, so long as you’re better than
the rest.
The principles Crofts advocated in 1997 are as relevant
today as they ever have been. To be a successful freelancer, you have to
work hard, dedicate yourself to your craft, and sell yourself effectively
to prospective employers. And that’s what Crofts’ book aims to teach.
Writing, you have to learn for yourself, and Crofts urges his readers
to write all the time, as only practice can make perfect (this seems
trite but it is entirely true).
Marketing, though, is something that Crofts is
well placed to advise on, and he talks his readers through the ins and
outs of approaching magazines, gathering commissions, and carrying out the
work, especially doing the work. No romantic, Crofts (himself a busy and
reputable ghost-writer) is very firm about the discipline and hard work
required of a freelancer and makes no bones about what is required. It’s
not a profession for the faint-hearted. I find his account of how to
get a novel published rather flimsy, but this is an area which is well
documented elsewhere. However his section on ghost writing is about as
close to the horse’s mouth as we’re likely to get.
If I have criticisms of Crofts’ book, it’s perhaps
that some of the advice on the tools of the trade, especially computers,
modems, the likely rise of e-business, is so quaintly outdated as to seem
risible, and that his view of the publishing world is maybe lit more by
the sun of Los Angeles than the UK but there is no doubt that the book is
inspirational and encouraging. It may be sketched in very broad brush
strokes, but this is less a fault, more a reminder that a book can’t do
or get the work for you, only point you in the right direction.
