Want to start freelance writing but don't know how to find your first client?
You want to write professionally. But where do you start, what can you offer, and how do you find someone willing to pay for it?
I'm Pat, a former national newspaper journalist and PR professional. I'll show you how to use what you already know to find writing opportunities, approach potential clients, uncover stories and produce work they can publish.
Start with my free guides.
Your first steps towards paid writing work
Seven free guides covering the writing, storytelling and PR skills you can use to start freelance work. Read them in order or choose the skills you need first.
1. Put What You Know to Work
Your years in a trade, profession or industry are the starting point, not something to leave behind. This guide shows you how to turn that knowledge into writing other people will pay for.
2. Write Clearly
Grammar and word slips make a reader stop trusting you, and an editor stop reading. This guide covers the mistakes that do the most damage and how to put them right.
3. Newsworthy Press Release Starter Pack
Most press releases fail before a word is written, because the basics aren’t in place. This pack gives you what you need to have in front of you before you start.
4. How to Write a Press Release
A press release has a structure that journalists expect, and the first lines carry most of the weight. This guide takes you through it from the opening line to the last.
5. Why Most Press Releases Fail
Newsdesks bin most of what they receive, and usually for the same few reasons. This guide shows you what those reasons are, so yours isn’t one of them.
6. How to Contact News Desks
A good story can still be lost by sending it to the wrong person in the wrong way. This guide covers who to write to, what to put in the message, and what to leave out.
7. How to Get Media Coverage
Coverage depends on what a journalist needs, not on what you want to say. This guide shows you how to shape your story around that, so it has a better chance of being used.
The Newsworthy Freelance PR & Business Writing Pack
£24.99 — The complete route in one place.
Learn how to turn your writing skills and specialist knowledge into services you can offer paying clients.
The Newsworthy Pack brings together the process of finding opportunities, identifying stories, interviewing, writing, approaching publications and working with clients.
It includes practical examples, worksheets, checklists and working documents to help you apply what you learn.
You can get started with the free guides. The Pack is for people who want the whole process organised, with the additional materials to work through it.
Work through it with me
Personal Mentoring is the Pack with me alongside you. You bring the subject you know. We choose your sector, find the story, write the press release, and pitch it to the right publication, with me reading your work and giving you straight feedback at each stage. The Pack is included, and we keep going until your first story is published.
Price: £150, by application
If you’ve already bought the Pack, its price is credited.
Train with a journalist and PR consultant
Patrick Barnham has been both the journalist who decides what gets used and the PR who sends it in. The guides, the Pack and the mentoring show you what an editor wants, so you can use it on your own subject straight away.
