Back in the day, the main writers were staff writers. Hired professionals with salaries, pensions, and health insurance. Today, a lot more of the professional writing world is made up of freelancers. What are the main separation points between them? Are they really as different as they seem? Let’s take a look and see for ourselves.

The key differences between staff and freelance writers

In my experience as a freelance writer, these are the main points of difference I have heard about. I’ve never worked in a staff writing position. Still, I’ve interacted with people who have, and the main differences are below!

• Staff writers get the byline: As a writer, your reputation is on what you publish with your name on it. Since many freelancers are ghostwriters, we are used to not having our names put on the things we publish. In my own experience, there are a few projects that I’ve published under my name (like this blog and my book), but most of my deliverables are ghostwritten.

• Freelance writers get to choose their clients: While this is not always the case, it is a huge perk for many of us. Choosing what projects to work on and who to work with is a major difference from staff writing. In most staff positions, writers work with other team members or clients directed to them by someone else within the company. It gives you little freedom to pick and choose which jobs and clients best suit your professional personality.

• Staff writers have job security and protection: If you work for a company as a staff writer, you have a contract with that company. That contract gives you job security and protection, such as severance, if you are let go. While this can exist with freelance positions, too, there is something to be said for staff positions that combine a contract with a biweekly salary!

• Freelance writers make their own hours: This is one of my favourite differentiation points! Staff writers tend to work the classic 9-5, 5 days a week, and get holidays, holiday pay, weekends, etc. The whole package, basically. These are usually in-office positions with in-office politics, social niceties, etc. Freelancers can choose when, how, and where they work. If you work best at 2am, you can work at 2am. If you want to work in your PJs at 5pm, then you can do that. There is no need for coworkers or politics or any of that. You don’t get holiday pay or weekends, but this helps you see the main point.

Make the choice that you like most

There are quite a few essential differences between staff writers and freelance writers. I was surprised with how many differences there were. Staff writers have been the traditional model, whereas freelance writers are the modern model. Next time, I will talk more about which writing career choice is better, so if you’re considering either or both of these, you’ll want to stay tuned for that.

What do you think about these differences? Are there any crucial ones that I overlooked? Please let me know!