Are AI Writing Tools Taking Freelance Writers Out of Business?

As a side hustler and freelance writer, I can tell you that the current online business terrain is ominous, bumpy, dry and hilly with the recent popularization of artificial intelligence (AI) in executing human tasks especially in the writing space. As things are unfolding, the hardest hit is the freelance writing business and outsourcing services industries!

 

But in all of these, I can assure you that there is a silver lining in the cloud. AI cannot take versatile freelance writers out of business because AI is a function of human intelligence. Although AI’s capacity to perform everyday tasks in business is gargantuan, it is still limited by scope and information fed by the tools’ developers. In short, AI tools lack emotion, empathy and foresight!

 

I know users of AI tools are constantly giving feedback to the developers for subsequent improvements and upgrade even from beta testing stage, but the truth is that the versatility and creative nature of human writers cannot be imitated. AI writing tool can be seen as an assistant or aid to digital content creators and not as a replacement. 

 

While AI tools and, most recently, agentic AI are all over the internet, there is the fear of plagiarism of original content of authors, publishers, and writers on the web without attributing due credit to the intellectual property owners.

 

This is why online business owners and webmasters who know their onions will still hire freelance writers who focus more on human writing than depending solely on an AI writing tool to do the job.

 

As more advancements in artificial intelligence technology are unfolding, I know it’s going to be a handy and useful tool in the writers’ arsenal especially those who know how to create spot-on prompts to elicit the right answers and information from the apps.

 

As a freelance writer, knowing how to work smarter and not harder will speed up the execution of writing jobs and tasks for self and clients. This is why you must take a second look at every AI writing tool in the marketplace such as Google Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude, etc, and deploy it to your agency advantage.

 

But to remain relevant as a freelance content writer now, you need to understand how AI search and AI SEO work. Of a truth, artificial intelligence overview in the SERP (search engine results page) is taking over the search visibility at the moment. The era of zero-click has come to stay, and we must be ready to adapt and be visible to our leads and prospects. If you cannot beat them, you’ve to join them!

 

And the way forward is to learn digital skills as soon as possible so that you don’t lag behind in AI search visibility. If you cannot provide full-scale digital marketing services to your clients as a freelance writer, you may be out of writing jobs and clients, sooner or later.

In conclusion, you can take your side hustle or freelance writing business to the next level with AI tools available online. 

Ebook Marketing Guide for Bloggers, Authors and Content Writers

Although video marketing is gaining huge popularity on the internet by the day, the benefits of ebook marketing cannot be underrated. With a solid ebook promotion strategy in place, you can successfully and consistently generate targeted leads and prospects as well as close sales by leaps and bounds.

 

Whether you’re a blogger, author or content writer, you can create an ebook and take advantage of the content needs and gaps in the marketplace by providing your expert knowledge on a specific topic which will serve as the solution to what your target niche market is searching for.

 

The good news is that your electronic book (e-book for short) which you’ve created and uploaded on a web hosting server can be downloaded by anyone who has the link and access to it at any time of the day. For years to come, you’ll be able to use your published ebook online to reach out to your potential leads and/or retain customers in the industry where you are operating from.

 

For example, you can write an ebook on 31 side hustles to make money online. You can then give this ebook away for free to your prospects or readers with or without an opt-in form to fill out. Your goal may be to use the ebook to directly generate affiliate products sales or any other marketing goal you may have in mind.

But the take home here is a watertight ebook marketing campaign can considerably improve the bottom line of your business if done right.

 

Establish Your Ebook Marketing Goal

 

To get started, you’ve to establish your ebook marketing goal. As an author or writer, you’ve to begin with the end in mind. What do you hope to achieve with your ebook marketing campaign? Do you want to create brand awareness for your business? Do you want to generate leads through list building? Clearly bearing your goal in mind will help you to be laser focused on what to do.

 

For example, I may decide to write an ebook on 31 online side hustles to make money from home to help aspiring entrepreneurs with day jobs to start a business on the internet. This type of goal must consider the time constraints of day jobbers. Any side hustle business that will be included in this list must not take the whole day to accomplish.  

 

Design Buyer Persona for Your Ebook

 

Creating buyer persona for your ebook will make it easy to understand who your ideal readers are. Your goal is to appeal to a specific segment in the marketplace. Is your electronic book targeted at beginners, intermediate or advanced readers?

 

The demography of your potential prospects or customers must be clearly stated to avoid wasted efforts in your ebook marketing campaign. You should bear in mind that the buyer persona you’re creating is something more than just the profile of your ideal customer or reader.

 

Write Your Ebook

 

I’ve extensively discussed how to write an ebook in part one and part two which I published in my previous blog posts. You can read it up from the above links to get the lowdown on writing and selling ebooks online.

 

Create Ebook Marketing Plan

Now that you’ve created an ebook to sell or give away as a gift, it’s time to go to the drawing board to create a marketing plan to distribute it to your target readers. The idea is to reach as many people as possible who are interested in downloading it.

 

Firstly, draw up a list of websites that accept and allow PDF file sharing. Secondly, pencil down the category to upload your PDF in each of these websites.

 

Publish and Distribute Your Ebook

 

With a handy book marketing plan, you can go ahead to publish and distribute your electronic book to various sites especially if you’re using the ebook to create brand awareness, build trust and credibility or demonstrate authority or thought leadership on a topic or subject matter.

 

Some of the PDF file sharing sites include SlideShare.net, ISSUU.com, just to name a few.

 

 Promote Your Ebook

 

It’s not just enough to distribute your ebook to various websites and sit back to expect hordes of visitors to your blog or landing page. You’ve to go out of your way to use content marketing to create buzz about your ebook.

 

This is where you’ve to consistently blow your trumpet to your target audience. Let them know that your book is available to download after payment or exchange of email address if you’re building an email list of subscribers.

 

Measure, Analyze and Improve

 

You’ve to measure and analyze your return on marketing campaign so that you can improve in your future efforts. Making use of data analytics as early as possible will be helpful in this regard. Google Analytics and Googe Search Console are free tools to use.