Whether you’re a veteran or a rookie in the freelance writing business, what happens tomorrow will be uncertain. Freelancing is lucrative but competitive, and it’s helpful to be cautious of the common pitfalls that other freelancers have made to avoid them. Mistakes can always be charged to experience, as it teaches humility and makes you grow wiser as a writer. Even veteran writers still make mistakes, and that’s fine. We’re all students of the craft, and experience is the best teacher. A vocation in writing is a vocation in wisdom.

I’ve been doing freelancing for more than two years and most of them are uncredited content pieces. I don’t mind the anonymity provided that I get to see my piece published online. I generously accepted the modest rates because back then, my objective was to build up my portfolio. Along the way, I’ve stumbled upon tons of mistakes. Reading the experiences of other freelance writers online made me aware that I’m not alone. Consider these common reminders, so that you can avoid them in your freelance writing journey.

Build your writing credits.

In the freelance writing business, you often hear the phrase, “Know your worth.” This is an often misunderstood phrase by rookie writers. They believe that they’re entitled to immediate competitive rates and there’s nothing wrong with this. The question is, do you have something to show for it? If you put yourself in your client’s shoes, they will not dish out good money to a writer who hasn’t proven anything yet. As a freelancer, you don’t need to sell yourself short either. If you search for success stories of freelance writers, you’ll discover that they started with low paying markets. They were building their portfolio and client relationships. These are what rookie writers should aim for. The pay may be low at first, but you’re getting your foot in the door.

Don’t send pitches without doing your homework.

This is like walking into a bar and sitting next to a stranger, then after a little small talk warm-up, you bombard him with boring, tasteless jokes. Chances are, the other person will either walk away or brush you off.

When you have access to an array of markets, it’s tempting to send pitches here and there. A common mistake among newbies is that they peruse through a publication’s profile, browse through what they publish and think: “I can write something like this.” Then the newbie starts writing a pitch. There’s more to getting to know a market than just reading what they publish. Take more time to study your market so you can angle your pitch better.

Don’t waste a good pitch.

Another common mistake is when writers create multiple pitches for different markets to increase their odds of getting published. This can be time-consuming and could drain your energy. A better way to approach this is to write one awesome pitch and send it to one market. If it gets rejected, send the same pitch to a non-competing market that publishes a similar article. For example, if you send a pitch about pet insurance and it gets rejected by a pet care publication, you can send the same pitch to a family or investment publication. This way, you increase your chances of tapping different markets with one good pitch.