FAQs About Barefoot Writing

Membership opens the door to multiple forums of support so you pursue paid freelance writing jobs as fast as possible. You’ll get access to our monthly digital magazine, Barefoot Writer, which features interviews with successful working writers, deep dives into which writing opportunities are hot right now, tips on how to stay motivated, advice on how to think like a writer, and much more. Not only that, but you get access to our treasure trove of over 100 back issues – each with tried and true writing advice.

Membership also gets you access to our private, member’s only Facebook group. You can go there for advice, feedback, critiques, and camaraderie as you launch your writing dream.

Please send your pitches to: Attn: Queries Dept., queries(at)thebarefootwriter.com.

Be as specific as possible when pitching a writing idea. Include the topic of your article and describe the benefit Barefoot Writers will get from reading your copy. Your pitch will go over best if you model it after the articles published in Barefoot Writer Magazine.

For specific guidelines on submitting your pitch, please visit our submission guidelines page.

Because we believe writers should be paid for their craft, we pay our contributors and other freelance professionals (e.g., graphic designers, internet researchers, etc.). Pay is based both on experience and project type.

You’re welcome to pitch us your article ideas even if you’re not a member. But, you’ll gain a distinct advantage if you do join the Barefoot Writer Club, simply because you’ll have full access to our entire archive of useful and career-launching articles.

That means you’ll be better able to decide what type of content we publish. You’ll also be more likely to understand our preferred style and writing voice. Knowing these crucial elements about any publishing company’s projects will increase your chances of getting hired to write for them.

And, because we pay our writers for content, any fee you get for writing for us will more than offset the cost of your membership.

You may send submissions to: Attn: Queries Dept., at queries(at)thebarefootwriter.com.

While we won’t have time to review or critique each submission, we do encourage you to feel comfortable submitting your writing ideas. Just be sure to explain why you think your submission will benefit other Barefoot Writers, as our mission is to help writers move forward with their goals to live happy and well-paid lives as professional writers pursuing paid freelance writing jobs.

Freelance writers are writers who work on a self-employed basis. They can write for just one client or for many. Freelance writers typically work from home, make money, and may or may not choose to relocate to another location (like a coffee shop) whenever it suits their needs. Most will work outside of a main client’s office. They may also work irregular hours based on what suits their schedules (e.g., if they have family needs or hobbies, they’re able to work around those).

Freelance writers almost always rely on the Internet to send and review writing projects, which is why they’re location-independent. Most freelance writers enjoy complete freedom in their schedules and get to decide what types of projects they’re willing to take on, often based on their own interests.

You don’t need any specific type of computer to work as a paid writer. We have members who use Macs, PCs, and Chromebooks. There’s no need to buy a new computer if you already have one.

And for doing your writing, any word processing program will do. Most of our writers use Microsoft Word, and others use programs such as Google Docs, WordPad, Corel (WordPerfect), and Apple iWork (Pages).

As a member of the Barefoot Writer Club, you’ll need a way to view your member information and bonuses. Those are typically in PDF form, so any PDF reader will do. We recommend Adobe Reader 10 (or better) — you can get it here for free.

In most cases, when you submit paid writing work to a client, it’s done as an attachment via email. Sometimes the client will have you upload the document to their own files or systems. Sometimes you’ll put your writing directly on a website, especially if you’re working for yourself.

Any kind will do. Because most Barefoot Writers are freelancers, they communicate with clients using whatever email address they please.

If you already own a domain name or have a professional website up, you can create an email address that shares that domain. For example, say you own www.writingbyjo.com. Then your email address would be jo@writingbyjo.com.

As to how you set that up, we recommend going to your web hosting service company for guidance.

But if you don’t have a domain, or a professional website, or a domain-based email address, that’s perfectly fine! After all, most Barefoot Writers are just getting started in the world of professional writing. We don’t expect you to have any of that.

And to be honest, plenty of writers rely on their LinkedIn profiles to represent them online, and they use whatever email name they get from their email service (like [your_name]@gmail.com or [your_name]@yahoo.com).

Just one recommendation there: Make sure that whatever email address you use presents you in a positive light. So if your email address is something like donutfreak@xxxx.com or beerhottie@xxxx.com… it’s a good idea to change it before you start looking for paid writing work.

No two paths to writing success are the same. That’s the beauty of a freelance writing career—you design it to fit in with the life you have or want; you’ll never have to follow the footsteps of someone else.

That said, the most successful writers we know — and those who make the highest annual incomes — are members of professional writing communities, such as the Barefoot Writer Club. Connecting with other writers for support, advice, news on writing trends, and accountability is vital for building your writing career.

Most successful, well-paid writers also have a background in persuasive writing. Nearly all the writers we’ve hired in the past completed AWAI’s Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting, which is the premiere training program for anyone looking to build a profitable career from marketing communications.

For more helpful tips about launching your writing career, you can check out our page on how to get started as a writer.

It all depends on what you’re comfortable with. Most Barefoot Writers write for clients on a freelance basis and get paid via check or online money transfer.

Some Barefoot Writers choose to write for clients in-house, so they get paid a salary.

Others set up retainer agreements with their clients, so they enjoy the perks of ongoing pay and regular writing work.

And still others write for themselves – and profit tremendously!

Once you become a member of the Barefoot Writer Club and decide what type of writing you’re most interested in, we’re here to answer any questions you have about how to build your income.

You can start by taking a look at our page on how to get paid as a writer.

You’ll do your best writing when you write about what interests you. Some of our most successful Barefoot Writers are those who followed their passions and sought out paid freelance writing jobs in the fields they’re most interested in. Read their success stories here.

Our monthly digital magazine, Barefoot Writer, showcases different writing opportunities that allow you to work from home, make money, and pursue the writing topics that most excite you.

We discuss this topic in more depth in our article on how to find your writing niche.

Not at all! For proof, meet some of the working writers who are members of the Barefoot Writer Club.

A lot of would-be writers grow up thinking the only way to make a living as a writer is to write a book, or to write for a newspaper or magazine.

The truth is, there’s a “hidden world” of TONS of other writing opportunities that satisfy anybody’s creative desire to write. Better yet, these writing opportunities often pay a lot.

Most of these writing opportunities can be done from home, which means you get to set your own hours and work when and where you want – you’ll never have to worry about a boss scowling over your shoulder. Cringing at the sound of your alarm clock can be a thing of the past.

None at all! Persuasive writing, which leads to all the most lucrative paid writing paths, is a learned skill.

So you don’t need any kind of background in writing.

If you have experience in writing, that’s great too — but not at all necessary.

Not at all! Clients can come from anywhere — and by the same token, no matter where you live, you can build a successful career. For example, Barefoot Writer Shelley Jacobson is based in Canada and works for both U.S. and Canadian clients. Jan Marie Mueller lives in Germany and does web copy and social media for clients all over the world, in both German and English.

And when Jen Adams was first living in Ecuador, one of her biggest clients was a German man living in Brazil who did web marketing in Asia. You really have no boundaries anymore, thanks to technology!

Nope! You can live anywhere you please, anywhere in the world, and still make money freelance writing.

All you need is a computer and an Internet connection. If you’re interested in writing for Barefoot Writer magazine, or for our website, please direct your pitch to: Attn: Queries Dept., at queries(at)thebarefootwriter.com.

And for further details on writing for us, check out our writers’ submission guidelines here.

Not at all. We’ll guide you through everything you need to learn to launch and grow your writing career. 

We have working Barefoot Writer members with every kind of background under the sun… Some have graduate degrees, some never graduated high school. Some are licensed in other fields; some have been out of work for years.

When you’re a Barefoot Writer, you’ll find clients are more interested in the quality of your writing skills than your background. Your work history and credentials matter less than your ability to communicate well and clearly through words.

And once you master the fundamentals of persuasive writing, you can raise your fees to levels that could earn you six-figures or more.

To start, what matters most is that you make up your mind to be a paid writer, write out your goal statement, join the Barefoot Writer Club, and follow the steps traveled by thousands of writers before you.

Definitely not. Barefoot Writers come from all walks of life and span the age spectrum. We have writers who are still in their teens as well as writers who are retired with great-grandkids!

Barefoot Writing is about getting to do what you love – write – while making a great living or even a side income from it. The desire to write is really the only requirement there is.