The First Post… A moment in blogging history.

Hello All –

 

So I decided that I would commit to writing here on Mondays, Wednesdays and (most) Fridays.  I essentially wanted to start a blog that chronicles the pain and joy that freelance writers experience and offer up helpful advice (if I can).  When I was starting out in the world of freelance writing, I only did it part time and kept a full time job.  I mostly wrote resumes and college papers on websites such as writers-united.org and cyberedit.com.

 

Recently though, I quit my day job and decided to write full time.  It sounded way easier than it actually was.  I had visions of spending quality time with my children, Nolan and Rayna (11 and 7 respectively) going to the beach and getting lots done around the house.  Since then I’ve thrown my dreams of being a perfect and readily available mom out the window.  Sure, yesterday we went to the beach.  However, I’m finding that we only get to go on a special trip away from the house about once a week (last week we went to the skateboard park).  The good news is that they have neighborhood friends and grandparents who keep them busy so I don’t always have to.  Anyway, I’m off subject…

 

I also wrote at Helium.com (for free) to build up my portfolio, which is something I recommend to everyone who is starting out.  At Helium.com there are opportunities for you to make money if you want to, but more importantly it gives you a forum to build your “portfolio”.  You can pick a subject from their long list of topics.  It’s a great place to start since every job you will look for online will want to see some writing samples.  Papers from college can work if you still have some kicking around (they usually have to be in a Word document or equivalent), but you will want to post some samples that look more like articles than academic papers.  You can also take some of your academic papers, update them and turn them into articles.  As long as it’s your original work, it doesn’t matter.  Some people make money here, but don’t count on helium to bring in any major bucks.

 

I listed some job posting sites for freelancers below.  Be careful of any links that lead to craigslist.org.  If you feel like something may not be legit then follow your gut, or ask me and I’ll let you know if I’ve seen anything fishy about the listing before. 

 

Also remember to NEVER pay anyone to work for them.  Any equipment or software needed to complete a job should be provided to you for FREE or you don’t work for them.  Some great places to find jobs are:

 

http://www.online-writing-jobs.com/

http://www.freelancewritinggigs.com/ (great resource for freelance writers in general) they have a “top 23 places to find jobs” post on there too.

 

oDesk.com is probably my favorite.  You have to take the time to sign up, but I’ve gotten a lot of work from here, you’re guaranteed to be paid by oDesk when you work hourly (how about that) and the wages are more than decent.  Granted, there are always one or two buyers on there who will try to offer you $0.25 per blog or something insulting like that, but most of the buyers are more than reasonable. 

www.cyberedit.com (resumes and papers)

www.writers-united.org (this is where I write my academic papers for cash)

http://www.aboutfreelancewriting.com/jobs/currentjobs.htm

http://allfreelancewritingjobs.com/

http://www..writersweekly.com/markets_and_jobs.php (not as good as the other one’s but worth looking at)

http://measuredprogress.com/employment/careers.aspx (this would be PERFECT for folks with degrees in Education and has many contract/telecommuting positions.  They are based out of NH)

 

You can also sign up with http://www.guru.com/, but I haven’t gotten ANY work out of them in the year that I’ve been a member on their site.  I’m a non-paying member though.  If you’re willing to kick out the $100+ for the annual membership fee, then maybe you’ll have better luck than I did.  It’s a legitimate website; I just never wanted to pay the fee.  Another one that I’ve heard people have had goodluck on is sologig.com

 

Also, try Googling Freelance Writing Jobs or just Freelance Jobs, and you may find something that way too. 

Probably the three biggest writing jobs in demand right now are Technical Writing, Grant Writing and Copyediting – in that order. I’ll go more into the top industries and how to get in on them in another post. 

Finding freelance work can be slow and unproductive sometimes but I’ve always found that if you just stick with it and keep looking, you’ll end up getting something.  Keep Googling and GOOD LUCK!

 

~ by thehardcorefreelancer on July 21, 2008.