The Work of the Work

Further reflections on how the work gets done

Taylor Swift does the work of content creation (OpenArt AI)

You've probably heard the usual freelancing advice: find a niche, grow your following, specialize, become “someone” — a “big name,” an “influencer.” Well, here's the straight tea, sis: I've been doing just the opposite. As a freelancer, I've managed to sell hundreds of articles each year while maintaining a day job in content writing — all without significantly expanding my social media following or readership. It might sound odd, but hey, it’s how I do the work.

I cut my literary teeth in the late 90s in film criticism, writing for the university newspaper and the free local newsweeklies. Back then, I was paid not for my thoughts, but for my ability to stitch together the reviews of renowned critics into a patchwork of consensus, all without ever seeing the films.¹ This pattern extended across various niches in the early part of my career as I ghostwrote for a host of writers and organizations, from low-paying companies in the then-nascent SEO field to local hack columnists on tight deadlines.

My approach to freelancing is fairly simple. I don't focus on marketing a single thing or carving out a spot for myself. Instead, I leverage my natural tendency to work on multiple projects at once, always responding to emails and texts in the order they are received. It's my way of staying interested while managing my workload effectively.²

Working with publicists and marketers has been an integral part of my content strategy, too. They've provided me with extensive access to an array of products and people, from exercise equipment to baby strollers to Instagram trendsetters. It's one of the chief perks of my job, yet something that many journalists don’t want to discuss.³