The freelance writing landscape is constantly changing. 

There are so many different ways to make a living as a writer, and writers, by nature, are creative people who are endlessly adaptable. Part of the beauty of being your own boss is that you can change your job whenever you want and find out for yourself where your skills could be useful. 

But you still have to work with other people and convince them to spend their money on your services. And, as so many writers have been forced to learn, many of the companies who used to spend money on human writers are now settling for a lesser product written by AI. 

Every new evolution in technology, in culture, and in the professional landscape brings its own advantages and disadvantages. Now that 2025 is more than a month underway, the major themes that freelance writers will have to deal with this year are clear. 

AI Isn’t Going Away

It’s true that the technology isn’t nearly as exciting as the people trying to sell it to you are making it out to be. But at this point, it’s clear that the wider world isn’t going to wait until reality matches the sales pitch. Despite ethical concerns over intellectual property and environmental impact, services like ChatGPT are here to stay. 

For freelance writers, this means it’s best to focus on what you, as a human, bring to the table and make that your selling point. Unfortunately the fact that your writing is still leagues better than that of a robot’s still might not be convincing enough. But what is compelling to clients is your ability to strategize and make wider judgments on content strategies. 

On the one hand, giving yourself that promotion from person who writes the content to person who designs and implements the entire brand content strategy is a fantastic way to get a nice boost to the fees you charge your clients. But on the other hand, don’t forget to look not just at who might be interested in your services, but who might be interested in using ChatGPT instead. 

As much as writers these days can get wound up about AI taking all the jobs, it’s important to note that many of the people using these services are doing so because they don’t have the money to spend on a freelance writer, and if it weren’t for ChatGPT, they would be trying to do that work themselves. 

You Can Always Depend On Yourself

The world of traditional employment doesn’t feel so traditional anymore. 

Even if your job sector is relatively safe from layoffs, there are lots of ways a traditional employer can throw a wrench into your life. A traditional boss can decide to make workers come into the office on certain days or eliminate remote work altogether. They can also set limits on what kind of work you get to do, turn you down for promotions, and set you up in a situation where there is no room for growth. 

So whether it’s because of relatively new developments like the increasing friction between companies who want workers in-office and workers who want the flexibility they gained during the 2020 lockdowns, or the age-old conflict between bosses and workers, freelancing is still the best choice for writers who want to be in control of their own day-to-day work. 

Old-Fashioned Networking Wins Out

To say that social media is a constant churn is a massive understatement. It can be hard to know which platforms are the most useful, for whom and for what kind of content. And that’s not even getting into certain massive platforms getting banned and then (temporarily?) reinstated.

If you’re the kind of person who has always passionately believed that social media is a waste of time for professionals, well, you should reconsider. Even a simple LinkedIn account is a form of social media, and you’d have a hard time finding a working professional in this day and age who has literally no online presence. 

But if you’ve forced yourself to maintain an active presence on every type of platform there is, making videos or posting every day, you can probably give yourself a little bit of a break. Between the instability of what kind of content the algorithms push and the constant emergence of new platforms and trends, we’re past the point where it’s worth your time to do everything.

You’re the best judge of how you land your work. Maybe it’s LinkedIn, which can feel like the modern-day answer to the Help Wanted section of a newspaper. Maybe it’s purely word of mouth. Maybe you know your own niche well enough that you don’t need suggested searches to tell you who is in your market. 

Social media and the internet are tools; however you use them, it’s still true that your own ability to form connections and foster positive relationships will be at the core of your ability to find new clients. 

Change Is the Only Constant

Given the broader social and political landscape, it can be hard not to feel unease about your professional future. But the internet has been in a constant state of change since its invention decades ago. As a working adult, you already have the skills to stay on top of new developments and find exciting new prospects and possibilities. 

Chelsea Ennen is a writer living in Brooklyn with her husband and her dog. When not writing or reading, she is a fiber and textile artist who sews, knits, crochets, weaves, and spins.