Let’s start with the bad news, because you probably already know it.
To say that freelance writing has been a tough gig the last few years would be an incredible understatement. If you feel like it’s just you, don’t worry. It’s really not.
AI is the obvious villain here, and one many of us blame. Lots of clients blame it too. Within eight months of ChatGPT launching, job posts for automation-prone writing and coding work fell by 21% on one major freelance platform, according to research published through CESifo. And that study only covers the first eight months after ChatGPT launched.
But AI is only half the problem here. The other half is money.
Call it a recession or don’t. The IMF’s July update puts global growth slipping to 3% this year, with inflation climbing to 4.7%, and an oil shock in the background (thanks, Donald). Businesses everywhere are acting like they’re in one, and when companies get nervous, marketing and writing are often the first budgets to go under the knife.
The numbers back that up. Gartner’s 2026 CMO Spend Survey found marketing budgets stuck at 7.8% of company revenue, with 39% of CMOs planning to cut agency spend and the same proportion planning to cut labor costs. That’s your potential client list, trimming writers like you.
And the situation in the media is no better. Worse, perhaps? Press Gazette counted at least 3,434 journalism job cuts across the UK and US in 2025. This year, The Washington Post cut around a third of its staff and Reach is shedding a net 160 editorial roles. When a newsroom cuts staff, the freelance budget has often long disappeared.
So: everyone is cautious. And nobody wants to spend any money.
Now that’s obviously important contextual information. But there is a shift I’m seeing, as someone who runs a membership supporting freelance writers.
The numbers are improving… gradually
Every week, my team and I scan through thousands of links to find paid writing work for the FWN. Job boards, brand pages, social posts, submission forms and so on. It is, for want of a better word, tedious. It’s also the best real-time view of the market I have.
And over the last few months, something is changing.
Six months ago, a typical week meant sharing 170 to 180 pitch calls and writing jobs with paid members. Now we’re regularly sharing 230 to 240, sometimes even more. I have literally said ‘this is our best week for opportunities’ in this newsletter multiple times in the last few months.
But it’s 2026, right? How is that possible?! After all, that’s a jump of nearly a third. And it has built gradually, week after week, and held.
It’s still hard, and still absurdly competitive at times. More opportunities don’t automatically mean more income. But the direction of travel matters, and for the first time in a while, it’s pointing vaguely in the right way.
Want to see those opportunities as they come in?
Paid FWN members are currently getting 230–240+ paid pitch calls and writing jobs each week, alongside our live sessions and the rest of the network. You can try everything free for 7 days and see whether it helps your own search.
The AI shine is starting to wear off
Part of the reason, I think, is that the AI excitement is wearing thin.
For a while, every brand seemed convinced it could replace its writers with a chatbot and Tom from accounting because he got good grades in his English exams. But plenty are now finding out what readers think of the results.
A Clutch survey from August found 53% of consumers are less likely to buy from brands they know use AI in their social content. The pushback is real, and it’s starting to show up where it hurts businesses most: sales.
There’s a simpler problem, too. It all sounds the f*cking same.
I use AI in my own workflow (not to write, you’ll be pleased to know), so I know this well. No matter how you prompt it, what comes out is bland. Vapid. Competent, but not… good. It raises the floor for writing, but not the ceiling.
That’s not just my opinion, either. Researchers at USC reviewed more than 130 studies and found that large language models consistently produce less varied output than humans, as reported by Gizmodo. With the same tools, everyone ends up with the same voice. And that, right there, is a problem that a good writer solves.
That’s before you get to the cost. SemiAnalysis estimates that a $200-a-month top-tier subscription can burn through thousands of dollars in compute at heavy use, which is not a business model that stays cheap forever. The supposedly better models are getting pricier, too, while the cheaper models are simply bad at writing.
Will AI be part of some writers’ workflows? Sure. Will it replace writers? I don’t think so. I’m genuinely optimistic on that front.
You might need to stop waiting to be asked
Look, this one is important. Most writers I speak to only reply to job calls, then compete with a hundred other people for each one. It’s a valid strategy, but it’s also extremely challenging. So let’s get this straight: not enough of you are cold pitching.
Build yourself a strong portfolio in a Google Drive. Five strong samples, a clear one-line description of what you do, and a way to contact you. Then find the brands, businesses and media companies you’d like to work with, and tell them what you can do for them.
I’ll give you two examples from my own work that have come about in the last six months.
As a lover of newsletters and eating, I started looking at local restaurants that I could support. Some had a mailing list of past customers sitting completely unused. Others had none at all.
I approached a few and offered to build and write their newsletters: seasonal menu announcements, events, the odd story about where the ingredients came from or something chefs had been doing. I was brave and offered a little free example of how they could look, which led to interest from a couple of businesses.
What my work did do, with those who invested in it, was bring customers back through the door. They could upsell for evenings that looked a little quiet. Offer discounts for out-of-season months. None of those restaurants had posted a job ad for someone to help run a newsletter, and they didn’t know they would benefit from a writer until I told them they would.
The second one just came from moving. When I moved, I spent hours on local moving company websites (isn’t that torture, by the way?!), and most were dreadful. Vague, clunky, no clear reason to choose one over another.
Once the boxes were unpacked, I contacted a handful and offered to rewrite their website copy. I had literally just been through the experience for which they were trying to sell themselves. I knew exactly what a stressed customer wants to read at 11pm when comparing quotes. That experience was a huge part of my pitch.
Multiple clients in 2026 from cold pitching. I didn’t use AI, but rather a professional portfolio, helpful experience, and an explanation of how key pain points for customers could be resolved. I even used some of the statistics from above to show why they shouldn’t just do it themselves with a chatbot (being well versed in this is important for when a client asks you why they shouldn’t just use AI to do your job).
Look at your own life. Every service you’ve used and found frustrating is a potential client. Think local, too. You aren’t going to be rewriting copy for Meta by sending a cold pitch to Mark Zuckerberg. You might be rewriting copy for Dave’s local plumbing business.
So, is the writing world picking back up?
Gradually, yes.
It’s still tough, and plenty of weeks will feel like nothing is landing. But there are writers out there making it work right now, getting paid, landing retainers, signing new clients, using their contacts to find opportunities. It can be done.
And this is where the Freelance Writing Network can help.
Paid members get every opportunity we find each week, currently 230 to 240+ paid pitch calls and writing jobs, so you can spend your time pitching rather than searching. You also get our twice-monthly live sessions on pitching, pricing, outreach and the practical side of running a freelance business.
Every week, members tell me they found work through the FWN they’d never have come across otherwise. And that’s something I’m deeply proud of.
But here’s something most freelance writing newsletters won’t tell you: a membership is NOT a guarantee you’ll find paid work.
Someone messaged recently to say they hadn’t found anything through the newsletter lately. When I checked, they hadn’t clicked a single link in three weeks. The opportunities only work if you use them. We’re one part of the solution, and you’re the bigger part.
If you’re ready to make the next few months count, you can get a free trial today for full access to the entire network. Just a single successful commission between now and Christmas could pay for this newsletter for an entire year or more!
And if not, I hope this was worth opening anyway. Go and send one cold pitch this week!
I’ll see you later today with our first roundup of the week.
George
What’s inside the full FWN membership?
📩 Daily pitch calls & writing jobs – well‑paid freelance and contract gigs from editors, publications and clients across different niches.
✍️ Creative writing opportunities – paying lit mags, prizes, awards, and submission calls to help you grow your creative career.
💰 Grants, funding & fellowships – funding opportunities to support your writing time, projects, travel, residencies and more.
🎙️ Live events & workshops – twice‑monthly sessions on pitching, freelancing, career building and more with working writers and editors.
📚 Freelance tools, insights & support – practical guides, interviews and resources to help you find work, negotiate better, and build a sustainable writing life.
You can try it all with a 7-day free trial and see exactly what’s waiting inside:
If you’re serious about landing more paid work this month, the trial is your shortcut to start now.