OK, I'm coming up on my last year of college, writing for my school's daily student newspaper, and kicking around the idea of trying to make it as a freelance writer after I graduate. Any freelance writers out there, I'd be interested to hear how you got started in your career.
I know and work with a handful of freelance writers - and it seems that indeed it offers a slightly different career trajectory to other freelance options. For example: my audio freelancing relied on a previous employment position. I built a skillset, reputation and plenty of working relationships whilst working for an established company. That experience and reputation allowed me to go my own way after a certain time. I would have found it a great deal harder, perhaps impossible, to craft meaningful (read profitable) client relationships without that springboard. From what I have seen, and I may be off the mark, writers have more access to market as a beginner. Perhaps not to the "big players" in publishing straight away, but there are numerous sub culture magazines/papers/websites/blogs etc that one can send articles/pitches to. Advice I have heard time and again for aspiring writers is: Play the numbers game, write a great deal, send to all and sundry, see what sticks. Secondary advice for all disciplines: absorb the work of your competitors to a certain extent, they are successful for a reason. There is no shame in imitating before innovating, it takes time to find your own style.