Need More Time to Write? Hire an Intern.

Someone for whom writing is a full-time job, can get pretty busy, especially when they’re working on several different projects at once. John E. Phillips, in his article for The Writer magazine, Free Up More Time to Write, explains how hiring an apprentice or intern can help.
Since, according to Phillips, many writers only spend about 20 percent of their time actually writing, he suggests using an apprentice or intern to do things like research, fact checking, proofreading, rough editing and other tasks that take time away from writing and selling articles.

Phillips recommends that writers follow his lead and meet with the heads of journalism, English and IT departments at various local colleges and universities to ask them to choose their top five students to interview for internships.
He usually starts his interns or apprentices at $6.50 an hour, working part time. Phillips also says he tries to be aware of what his interns or apprentices “hope to learn or accomplish” while working for him. He believes in hiring interns or apprentices for a minimum of three years, which makes it more like a co-op.
An internship with a freelance writer is best suited to writing majors, though they aren’t the only ones who could benefit from the experience. According to Phillips, by the end of the first year, an intern could begin his own freelance writing career in addition to his internship earnings.
By following Phillips’ advice, professional writers can serve as both employers and mentors. He recommends having at least two interns because, “if you’re doing your job right, your interns should make enough money with their own writing and photography that they can leave the nest within three years.”
The relationship between a freelance writer and his intern or apprentice works well because the writer gets more time to focus on writing and selling his articles, while “new writers learn the business more quickly and easily than if they stumbled through the process on their own,” says Phillips. For writing majors who want real world experience, an internship with a professional freelance writer could prove invaluable.

Originally posted by Candice A