The Writing Coach Blog

Relocation Pays Off for Freelance Writer

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Fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese, freelance writer Manuela Zoninsein could have reported with ease from anywhere in the Americas or numerous other locations. But Zoninsein, born in Rio de Janeiro and raised in Evanston, Illinois, instead flew to Beijing with no Mandarin under her belt to carve out her niche.

"On one hand, I think it was rash and crazy to go somewhere where I had no background in the language," Zoninsein said. "But I felt for the long term it was a really strategic move."

Indeed, relocating to Asia in August 2007 paid off. In just two years, Zoninsein racked up an impressive client list, which includes Newsweek , Engineering News-Record, Monocle, Travel+Leisure Southeast Asia and Time Out Beijing. She also publishes her own newsletter, AgriGate, which explores how information and technology exchange can promote development and sustainability.

She laid the groundwork for freelance success abroad before leaving the U.S. by applying for intensive Mandarin study fellowships and building relationships with English-language publications that sought reporters in Asia. "I networked my butt off," she said. "I took classes at Mediabistro, pitched a ton and got to know folks at Newsweek and Engineering News-Record. I still write for both of those, and I'm so grateful."

Still, Zoninsein describes her arrival as a "crash landing" and wishes she had done even more to get ready. "I prepared myself in terms of professional connections, but not in terms of appreciating the place and learning about the culture," she said. She advises freelancers who hope to venture abroad to try to seek out U.S.-based experts who can recommend literature, history books, and cultural guides to give them a feel for the place.

"You need to get a good sense of what people have said before," she said. "A month before you go, set up a Google feed, follow people on Twitter and become well versed on what people are talking about. The earlier you begin that process, the better."

Zoninsein is based in Beijing but has spent the last few months studying Mandarin at the National Taiwan University in Taipei, supported by a HuaYu Scholarship from the Taiwanese Ministry of Education. She's kept her freelance business going in Taiwan, expanding her beat, tackling editing assignments and filing two to three stories a week. Initially, she had to use translators, interview English-speaking sources and cover areas that didn't require strong Mandarin skills, such as food and restaurant reviews. But her portfolio has since grown along with her language skills.

"It was difficult and frustrating at first to not be able to get on the street and talk to people," she said. "Chinese people don't trust journalists, and they don't trust foreigners. They don't express their opinions openly. There's just not a tradition of free press and interviewing people on the street. What comes out in the Chinese media is usually an official line, and I'm now getting to the language level where you can start parsing that line and get people on record whose opinion differs."

Zoninsein also reached a place where editors recognize her as a go-to person for food, travel and architecture stories in China. The freelance writer who was pitching a story a day just to make inroads at publications now admits she hasn't sent a formal query letter in six months. "It's become much more of a conversation," she said of her interactions with editors.

Here's her advice on how you can do the same:

• Pitch trade publications. "Get hooked up with an industry pub," Zoninsein said. "They pay well and have been less affected by the economy. They have a real need for articles and don't get as much love from freelancers as other publications." Engineering News-Record, a publication serving more than 70,000 paid subscribers in the construction industry, is among her top clients.
• Choose a few specialties. "I want to become associated with a few certain genres, categories," she said. "Once you develop a beat, you know what the issues are, you have sources who contact you, you have a foothold in a certain industry, the research time goes down, your brain is constantly thinking in that mode." She uses her iPhone and Microsoft Word (on her computer) to keep a running list of hundreds of story ideas.
• Prove your expertise. "It may sound wonky, nerdy or techie," she said, "but that means now publications will let me write about anything from infrastructure to travel pieces regarding train or airplane travel and that's been really incredible." The deeper your knowledge is, the less competition you will have.
• Stay in touch. "My career is very much built on my relationships with editors-maintaining contact, building up my brand and being consistent," she said. Talent and story ideas aren't enough. You must constantly stay on your clients' radars in order to thrive.

For more in-depth information on how to create a steady stream of freelance writing opportunities, check out Writing Coach's "7 Secrets of Profitable Freelancing in a Recession Kit."