Freelance writing is not only one of the most difficult fields to enter, it can also be challenging to earn a steady income as a freelance writer. However, it isn't impossible. Unfortunately, many writers have become most discouraged because years have passed and they have never been published, or sold any of their works. Was their pursuit of success as an author carried out with enough determination? Did they truly possess writing talent? Did opportunity just pass them by? Of course, answers to these valid questions will vary depending on the writer in question. Nevertheless, whatever the answers may be, many truly talented and determined, hard-working writers have not seen any success.

Success in the world of professional writing does not always depend on the "breaks" that one receives or doesn't receive. A writer's dreams can be ruined by three very common mistakes that millions of aspiring authors are continuing to make. What are these mistakes?

Avoid Becoming Desperate

Far too many writers are desperate to become published authors. In fact, desperation to see their name in print has driven many to a willingness to pay even very large sums of money to subsidiary publishers. This is nothing short of self-publishing. While self-publishing in itself is not a bad thing, it needs to be undertaken with great care to be as sure as possible that the work/s will sell before costly investments are made.

Fortunately, self-publishing with Lulu.com offers the advantage of print-on-demand. This simply means that hundreds or even thousands of books are not printed and left sitting on a shelf. Books are printed only when a copy is ordered.

Beware Of On-Line Writing Communities

Another decision many aspiring writers often make is to become part of an on-line writing community where they can post their works for feedback and/or possible sales. There are two major problems with most of the communities.

First, almost all of the members are only interested in getting their material read, not in reading anyone else's. This has been such a problem that many of the owners of such sites had to implement systems that forced writers to read the material of other authors in order to truly participate. Never should such behavior have to be forced, and when it is, benefit is still minimal. Many community members simply write the required number of words to get points for a review to hurry back to bringing attention to their works. Such attitudes do not encourage a true writers' group, constructive criticism, or mutual encouragement.

What is worse is that publishers and agents are well aware of what is going on in such communities and hardly ever visit these sites in search of budding best-selling authors--in spite of such claims made by the site owners.

Finally, there are also many aspiring writers who simply do not have the talent for the art and realize that their works will never be published or even widely read. It's not uncommon for their resentment to be taken out on the author of a truly well-writing piece. This type of "review" is nothing but a waste of time.

Here A Scam, There A Scam

Again, aspiring writers usually don't proceed with caution when offered an opportunity to publish, sell, promote, share, or have their work reviewed. The thought of finally making an entrance into the professional writing world, clouds their sight, opening the door wide open to ruthless and very expensive scams.

The theft of literary works takes place in spite of copyright protections. The Internet is host to a number of masters in the "art" of scamming gullible and desperate writers. They appear in the form of publishers, literary agents, other "published" writers, and editors. What can be done to protect against these cyber crooks? Writers must take responsibility for keeping themselves abreast on the current scams that are circulating. Writer Beware is a web site that has been praised by many for their work in hunting down and exposing literary scam artists. Their site can be found at: www.sfwa.org/Beware, a site that should be visited at least once per week.

Avoiding these three mistakes alone can prove to be beneficial in putting a talented writer on the road to success before he goes down the one of despair.

Other articles by Sam O'Brien