Before you start handing out business cards and trying to find freelance work, it’s important to understand why companies hire freelance writers.
You might be asking why companies would lay off their staff writers and then turn around and hire freelancers (who sometimes are the very writers the company just laid off). There are many economic and business reasons for hiring freelancers instead of employees. For one, although freelancers make more money per hour than employees do, the company’s actual cost is less for freelancers than it is for full-time employees. With employees, the company has to pay for vacation time, sick days, and downtime when there just isn’t that much for the employee writer to do. In addition, the company has to provide benefits, such as health insurance and pay half of their FICA.